Do you do Dry January or Alcohol Free for 40?

Never have I ever done Dry January or alcohol free for 40 days until this year. Three out of four in our household participated in DRY JANUARY and either had no alcohol or very limited alcohol. Instead of having a drink, we had a couple non-alcoholic beers, made some fun non-alcoholic “craft” cocktails/mocktails and enjoyed lots of hot tea. The weather was REALLY COLD so that helped as far as wanting a relaxing warm up. Now that it is Lent, I thought I’d give some encouragement and alcohol replacement options from our Dry January experience to those doing alcohol free for 40 days for Lent from Ash Wednesday to Easter.

First of all, don’t worry, that voice that says “I need a drink” will go away or be replaced. In my case, I had been standing in line WAY TOO LONG at the grocery store late one afternoon. Suddenly, the voice in my head said, “I need a sparkling water!” Wow! What a transformation! … and when I did get that flavored sparkling water on ice in a cocktail glass with a splash of lime, it did hit the spot! SUCCESS!  

Second, it really wasn’t that hard. While I definitely LOVE a glass of wine while I’m cooking and/or with dinner and also REALLY like a good beer and fun cocktails, I found doing Dry January was actually interesting and exciting.

We tried new-to-us beverages, mixing our own creations with different kombucha teas, sparkling waters, juices (found a new favorite, POM), seltzer water or club soda, and fresh lime or orange juice.  

And did you know there’s Gin and Whiskey with no alcohol? WHAT!?  Yes! It IS an actual thing. My son discovered zero alcohol Monday Gin and zero alcohol Monday Whiskey We ran them through the Bartesian making non-alcoholic cocktails, such as Whiskey Sour. Check out