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There’s no point calling the rise of low/no-alcohol drinks a trend anymore — it has become a full-blown movement.
There’s no point calling the rise of low/no-alcohol drinks a trend anymore — it has become a full-blown movement.
Sure there’s Dry January and Sober October, but there’s also a larger overall move towards moderation and a growing number of people embracing a sober lifestyle for all manner of reasons.
An increasing number of lounges and eateries are offering more (and more innovative) mocktails, as well as alcohol-free beers and wines. The number of dealcoholized options at grocery stores, beer vendors, Liquor Marts and the like has never been higher.
In short, the low/no-alc phenomenon is here to stay.
In Manitoba, some of the boom can definitely be attributed to the work of the couple behind the Winnipeg-based Sobr Market.
The brainchild of Shane and Jessie Halliburton, Sobr Market began as an online-only presence in 2023 before the pair opened a bricks-and-mortar location on Academy Road.
Three years later, Sobr Market has shops in Alberta, B.C. and Ontario, thanks in part to a collaboration with Walmart that has seen micro-bottle shops set up in a handful of locations. (The Walmart at 2370 McPhillips St. is home to one of said shops, offering a couple hundred low/no-alcohol beer, wine, mocktail and spirits options.)
In addition to bringing a comprehensive range of alcohol-free options for all tastes, Sobr Market also offers the chance to try many of its products before you buy.
Quality-wise, zero- or low-alcohol options continue to improve. The canned mocktails mimic the real-deal options easily, and locals such as Shrugging Doctor Beverage Co. and Farmery have produced zero-alcohol sangria and caesars, respectively.
Non-alcoholic beer options continue to keep pace nicely with with their boozy brethren, with a growing number of breweries introducing tasty low/no-alcohol options.
That includes right here in Manitoba. Locals making low/zero-alc brews include Farmery, Low Life Barrel House, Lake of the Woods Brewing Co. and, most recently, Trans Canada Brewing Co., who just released a low-alc (less than 0.5 per cent alcohol by volume, or ABV) version of their popular Bluebeary Ale. (I wasn’t able to track any down in time to include tasting notes this week.)
On the wine front, the options are slightly more mixed. Most low/no-alcohol wines are a touch on the sweet side, which tends to work best in bubblies and worst in reds, with varying success in still whites and rosés. Most of the mass-produced dealcoholized wines found at grocery stores are pretty bad, but those carried by Sobr Market (and, to a lesser extent, private wine stores) offer a wider range of styles and quality, with many coming from smaller producers.
Readers: What low/no-alcohol drinks have impressed you? Is there interest in an increased amount of non-alcoholic drinks coverage here? Let me know.
Drinks of the week
Peroni Nastro Azzurro 0.0%
(Rome, Italy — prices of cans, bottles and six-packs vary, widely available)
Pale straw in appearance and clear, this zero-alc Italian brew brings fresh malt, red apple, cracked biscuit and subtle herbal notes aromatically.
It’s dry, light-bodied and crisp, aping the regular Peroni nicely in the malt, biscuit and apple notes, retaining that underlying herbal flavour as well.
The big breweries (including Heineken, Beck, Asahi, Corona and the like) continue to do good work on the non-alcoholic front. Available at Liquor Marts, Sobr Market, grocery stores and beyond 3.5/5
Town Brewery Easy Tiger Non-Alc Lager
(Whitby, Ont. — $3.75/355ml can, Sobr Market)
Pale gold in appearance and clear, this 0.5 per cent ABV lager offers up-front biscuit and malt aromas, with hints of toasted nut and chalky components.
On the dry, light-plus bodied palate there’s a touch of rounder red apple flavours that come with the biscuit, crisp malt and subtle nutty note, with good depth of flavour and right in line with your typical lager. Nicely done. 4/5
One for the Road Brewing Co. Still Struggling Espresso Stout
(Calgary — $2.80/355ml cans, Sobr Market)
Deep cola brown in appearance with an off-white head — not as deep in colour as, say the Guinness 0.0 — there’s a lovely espresso bean note that comes through aromatically alongside dark malt, cocoa, vanilla and spice on this “less than 0.5 per cent” stout.
It’s dry and light-plus bodied — surprisingly on the leaner side, in fact — with a slightly bitter herbal note that comes with the espresso and dark malt flavours as well as hints of cocoa and toffee.
Decent flavours, but lacks the chewier, more robust texture of other non-alcohol stouts. 2.5/5
This “alcohol-removed wine” (less than 0.5 per cent ABV) contains dealcoholized wine and Riesling grape concentrate (among other things), and is pale straw in appearance, bringing pretty perfume, floral, red apple and pear notes.
On the palate it’s mainly dry and delivers a decent amount of Riesling-like flavours — red apple, lemon candy, some herbal notes — with medium acidity and a modest finish.
One of the better non-alcohol bubblies I’ve tried. 3.5/5
Bottega 0 Sparkling Life Rosé
(Italy — $13.99/750ml bottle, Liquor Marts and beyond)
The stalwart Italian sparkling wine producer has ventured into zero-alcohol fizz, the rosé made from a minimum 70 per cent grape must.
It’s bright pink in colour and offers aromas of watermelon and cherry candies, a subtle raspberry note and hints of fresh-cut flowers.
On the palate it’s light-plus bodied and fairly sweet, with loads of red berry/cherry candy and a peachy note and almost a hint of spice. Fans of sweeter Moscato d’Asti bubblies, take note. 3/5
Gnista NV Red, French Style
(Sweden — $22.50/750ml bottle, Sobr Market)
This “red wine alternative” brings some mixed messaging — the label says it’s to be served like a French wine, but cautions “don’t expect it to taste like one.”
Made from grape, sour cherry and cranberry juices along with oak, raisins, black pepper and “extracts made from vodka” (it’s 0.3 per cent alcohol), it’s pale ruby and slightly hazy in appearance, bringing mulled wine/fruitcake notes aromatically.
It’s light-plus bodied and quite sweet, with the fruity flavours going toe to toe with the spice and oak components, and some modest tannins. Disregard the serving suggestion and either slightly chilled (with ice, sangria style) or slightly warmed (a-la mulled wine). 2.5/5
winnipegfreepress.com/bensigurdson
Ben Sigurdson Literary editor, drinks writer
Ben Sigurdson is the Free Press‘s literary editor and drinks writer. He graduated with a master of arts degree in English from the University of Manitoba in 2005, the same year he began writing Uncorked, the weekly Free Press drinks column. He joined the Free Press full time in 2013 as a copy editor before being appointed literary editor in 2014. Read more about Ben.
In addition to providing opinions and analysis on wine and drinks, Ben oversees a team of freelance book reviewers and produces content for the arts and life section, all of which is reviewed by the Free Press’s editing team before being posted online or published in print. It’s part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.
Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber.
Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
Ben Sigurdson Literary editor, drinks writer
Ben Sigurdson is the Free Press‘s literary editor and drinks writer. He graduated with a master of arts degree in English from the University of Manitoba in 2005, the same year he began writing Uncorked, the weekly Free Press drinks column. He joined the Free Press full time in 2013 as a copy editor before being appointed literary editor in 2014. Read more about Ben.
In addition to providing opinions and analysis on wine and drinks, Ben oversees a team of freelance book reviewers and produces content for the arts and life section, all of which is reviewed by the Free Press’s editing team before being posted online or published in print. It’s part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.
Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber.
Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
Highways, local roads and sidewalks have buckled and broken thanks to extreme heat in recent days, wreaking havoc with travel.
Garth Thomson was driving on the Perimeter Highway, just north of Assiniboia Downs, around 4 p.m. Sunday when he suddenly came upon a major gap in the road.
“There was a big break in the highway, which was the heaving. I had about four seconds to decide what I was going to do. So, I kind of hit my brakes and drove more towards the centre, where the big chunks weren’t (located),” said Thomson. “It happened so fast … there were big chunks (of concrete), probably a foot (per) square, sticking up.”
His convertible had bumper damage and a hole in its gas tank, he said.
A delivery driver was kidnapped after the break-up of a business partnership involving “grey-market vapes” that were sold at Winnipeg convenience stores, a Manitoba judge has been told.
The Winnipeg Police Service said last week that investigators recently arrested a third suspect in the Oct. 11, 2024 incident, in which three men are accused of kidnapping the 22-year-old driver and holding him at gunpoint for hours as they stole merchandise from a storage facility.
One of the men arrested, 43-year-old Jonathon Ranger, pleaded guilty earlier this year to forcible confinement and two offences related to the stolen gun that was found when he was arrested in December 2024.
In June, he was sentenced to nine years in prison, minus time served, based on a joint recommendation from the Crown and defence as part of a plea bargain.
Cole Perfetti is betting on himself. And the Winnipeg Jets are counting on him to take the next step in his development.
In what has been an interesting off-season to date, general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff knocked another important item off his to-do list as the Jets agreed to terms with Perfetti on a five-year contract that carries an average annual value of US$6 million.
Perhaps the most important part of this transaction was that it allowed the two sides to avoid going to arbitration next Monday, which would have been bad for business for both parties.
Although it’s easy to say that it’s just business, a one-year term in arbitration, no matter the amount, would have left neither side satisfied and it would have meant Perfetti was just one year away from the opportunity to explore unrestricted free agency.
For decades, I have sought to spice up otherwise dull speeches with quotes from Norman R. Augustine’s book Augustine’s Laws, which examined the complexities and conundrums of management and came up with 52 witty and wise laws.
Law Number XXXII reads: “Hiring consultants to conduct studies can be an excellent means of turning problems into gold, your problems into their gold.”
In recent decades, governments have made increasing use of consultants to support both policy development and operational activities. Governments could not function effectively and efficiently without the support of consultants in a wide range of areas. Reliance on consultants, however, involves risks and potential problems. In short, there is a place for consultants in the governing process and consultants should be kept in their place.
A small number of accounting and management firms — Deloitte, PricewaterhouseCoopers, KPMG, Ernst and Young and McKinsey — dominate the consulting industry on a global basis. These firms, along with numerous smaller companies, interact thousands of times annually with different parts of a sprawling public sector and deliver positive results which definitely serve the public interest.
A runaway rail trolley hurtles towards five people tied to the tracks. You stand at the switch lever. If you pull the lever, the trolley veers onto a sidetrack, where one person is tied down. Do nothing and five die. Pull the lever and one dies by your hand.
A health minister needs no introduction to the weight of that choice. Every budget season, governments confront this dilemma with one cruel modification — the lever switches between today and tomorrow. Down the near track sits this year’s emergency, a crowded emergency department, a surgical backlog, a crisis demanding a decision by Friday. Down the far track, in the distance, over the horizon, waits a geriatric demographic that has not arrived yet. Each year’s budget cannot simultaneously rescue both.
Philosophers treat the trolley scenario as a thought experiment. A health minister calls it Tuesday.
The actual choice is crueller, because both tracks hold real people. The stroke patient in today’s hallway deserves rescue, as do the patients down the line. Two scholars, Guido Calabresi and Philip Bobbitt, analyzed such allocations as tragic choices — scarcity forces a society to preserve one value by sacrificing another. Their darker observation concerned method. Societies rarely make these choices in the open. The lever keeps directing traffic away from the immediate noise, toward the far track.
