Hello and welcome to The Midweek Drink. I hope that you lot are all wrapped up nice and warm on those frosty mornings or scraping the frost off your car windows, furiously (especially for us in the south of the country; we feel the cold more than those who live in the north). I’ll be honest, as an Autumn baby this is my favourite time of the year: the changing colours of the leaves, the smell of bonfires and fireworks whiffing across the cold, evening air and, yes you’ve guessed it, I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here returns! Oh yeah..and Christmas is coming up, too.
This week, I have chosen a non-alcoholic Gin ’n’ Tonic…Don’t worry you didn’t misread that, it’s true! Even I was surprised when I first heard of it; even my dad who loves G ’n’ T was astounded when I told him after trying it out. Using only natural ingredients (Carbonated Spring Water, Cane Sugar, Citric Acid, Natural Flavours, Natural Quinine), the Yorkshire-based company were able to produce Teetotal G ’n’ T, or as the producers of this beverage call it: “an adult soft drink”.
A brief history on The Temperance Spirit Company
In 2015, three Yorkshire business men (Ian Ackroyd, who’s been in the licensed trade for over 20 years; Ian Jowett, a former doctor in Chemistry and Brendan Duckworth, an entrepreneur) had the same idea of producing a drink that was not too sweet, tasted like an alcoholic drink, contained no alcohol and was perfect for designated drivers. Once they had the idea for their “adult soft drink”, they successfully produced Teetotal G ’n’ T (late 2015), using only naturally sourced ingredients and botanicals.
In 2016, to promote their drink they looked to Gillian Venning, who had a fantastic hospitality sales and marketing background, and with Gillian’s help they were able to promote and test their G ’n’ T at food markets and festivals - and the feedback they received from the public was very positive.
Now we’re in late 2017, 2 years after the idea became a reality, they now see a bright and prosperous future ahead of them - especially with Christmas coming up, too.
Three Senses and a beverage
The artwork on the 200ml bottle made me question: why there was an old lady on the label? It was only until I was researching last Sunday evening on the temperance movement and prohibition did I realise that the old lady was Carrie A. Nation. For those who may not know much about her, she was well-known for smashing bottles of alcohol with a hatchet in saloons and taverns between the late 19th Century and early 20th Century. She was part of the temperance movement who opposed the drinking of alcohol and believed in complete abstinence. But before you think that The Temperance Spirit Company is against alcohol consumption; they’re not. The term ‘temperance’ actually means ‘moderation’; it’s the movement that changed their goal from temperance to abstinence in the 19th Century.
The colour and body is very similar to what you expect from a G ’n’ T: clear and quite light. The carbonation is soft and for the taste, you can clearly notice the typical ingredients that are used in a G ’n’ T; which helps to flow on the palette, nicely. The same goes for the aroma.
When my dad finished the bottle, I revealed to him that it was non-alcoholic; his response to this was him checking the bottle many, many times and saying: “No way! How do they manage to do that?”
People if you are going to give this a shot, I recommend you close your eyes when you drink this and forget for that one moment that you are drinking a non-alcoholic G ’n’ T. Or if you are offering this to someone; don’t tell them! When you do you will either nod your head in approval or say out loud - or in your head - “Hey! That guy who does those weekly blogs is right!”
Now that Christmas is round the corner, it may be wise for you to start stocking up on Teetotal G ’n’ T. Buy now from LightDrinks.