Posts Categorized: non-alcoholic

I’m not going to do FebFast this year because I suspect giving up alcohol altogether isn’t going to do anything for Australia’s economic progress. Let’s face it, the economic impact on restaurants and bars of Febfast is horrendous. Most hospitality venues are doing it fairly tough and the fact that the economic model is based on selling alcohol, February is about to become a lot tougher. And let’s not forget, outside of the resources sector, the contribution winemaking and restaurants and bars make to the economy. An alternative is to drink less, better booze which probably has a better economic outcome even if the amount spent on alcohol doesn’t change. The problem is that everything around us encourages us to drink alcohol. From happy hours and slick advertising to peer pressure it is really difficult to cut down, let alone stop. If you are like me you’ll love the Toohey’s nocturnal migration tvc (above) but despise the mass produced product that it encourages us to swill down as well as the wider message of “drink more”. And if you’ve ever tried to give up drinking you’ll know how much pressure there is to keep going. Again and again. I’d go as far to say that the Gillard government should introduce mandatory pre-commitment for licensed venues. I could then before I go out say “I’m going to drink ten pints tonight” and the venue wouldn’t let me out until I’d fulfilled my contract. On the other hand it would be great for those occasions when I say things like “I’m just going to have one glass of wine tonight” and wake-up lyinhg beside my mate James in some taudry Fitzroy backstreet  gutter covered in a luminous green mixture of creme de menthe and absinthe vomited down my $500 shirt. Ruined clothing, aside there is nothing good about binge drinking either personally or for the nation. With predictions that that two-thirds of the Australians aged over 25 will be overweight or obese by 2025 a large proportion of us are heading for type 2 diabetes, and all the other associated health problems. Nationally too hang overs, however minor, are a massive contribution to the country’s productivity crisis (in addition to ridiculous penalty rates for hospitality staff). By finding drinks that combine a punch of flavour and the sort of mouthfeel that comes with alcohol, but without the sugar associated with most soft… Read more »