Dry January…, let’s face it, many of us want to check in on our ability to “moderate”. We believe knowing more about non-alcoholic options has made us better hosts. And we very much believe wine is about connection.
by Chad Steiner
A lot of this blog post is from a post I made about a year ago. And as a family owned and operated wine business, it may seem odd that we’d be talking about or acknowledging or even recommending non-alcoholic options. Let’s be clear, we’re passionate about wine. We’re passionate about it’s ability to serve as an amazing connector. Pause for a moment and think of a time you might have had an amazing bottle – can you remember who you were with, does it stand out in your mind? But just because we love wine, doesn’t mean we don’t recognize how incredibly important it is to HOST. We’ve got endless stories of delighting groups where there are 4 wine drinkers and one non-drinker (for reasons you would be surprised by) and that 5th person is elated there’s something at our tasting room FOR THEM. We take pride in learning to become better hosts. So read on if you want some pro-tips for the rest of Dry January.
When we started the pumpkin patch in 2019 – we wanted to be able to serve a drink the whole family could enjoy. I reached out to a gentleman named Nolan whom I served as a sales rep with Syngenta in 2002. Nolan has a family farm and his kids are now involved in the operation. They were a couple years into making Sheffield Cider. A non-alcoholic cider made from apples and sometimes mixed with other fruits. It turned out to be an amazing product from an amazing family and visitors to the farm loved it!
Roughly 30% of the U.S. population doesn’t drink alcohol. And there’s a growing number of people interested in non-alcoholic options. Our eyes were opened to the opportunity to delight our guests. We’ve now had multiple situations where guests were so appreciative we considered them by having something non-alcoholic to offer. There can be a multitude of reasons people don’t drink alcohol. Empathy and understanding have provided us the opportunity to welcome guests whether they drink wine or not. We’re glad they visit our farm. Here are some of the reasons we’ve encountered.
- Allergies. Some individuals have allergic reactions to alcohol. Please keep this in mind if you plan to serve a non-alcoholic drink because some non-alcoholic options do have a small amount of alcohol. This can be harmful to those individuals.
- Choice. We’ve hosted folks who simply choose not to drink alcohol. This could be related to considerations for health. It could be related to recovery from addiction (congrats to all those who’ve had success on the recovery journey – super proud of you all). It could be because of religion or other reasons. Either way, we want to welcome all as hosts.
- Children. Kids often come with parents to wineries and have limited options. They too appreciate options they can participate in to feel special.
- Sober drivers. Many responsible guests dedicate someone to drive them while out wine tasting. These guests often times would like to have something unique as well. A mocktail can provide a sense of celebration or a happy way to engage socially.
- Pregnant. There are risks with drinking alcohol when pregnant. Many moms love wine but aren’t able to partake.
- Other. And sometimes, maybe a person just wants to take a break or consume less alcohol. In fact, Seedlip™ shared with us back in 2020 their approach at big events they were pouring at was – “hey, either start or end the evening with a non-alcoholic drink.”. Which I thought was a great idea. You’re headed out tasting for the day, maybe you have a mocktail at the first spot… or the last spot? Or if it’s an evening party you could do the same. It, might help the next morning as well.
Below I’d like to share some ideas on what we offer guests. These options by no means represent the totality of what’s available – the great thing today is how many options are available for non-alcoholic drinkers to enjoy.
These have been great. Folks choosing them have liked them. You can pour them over ice or drink them as they sit. Plus loads of great flavor options to consider. For us this option works on the go – let guest pick which one they’d like and its pre-mixed. A better solution in our environment than trying to put together a mocktail from scratch.
I first connected with Seedlip™ in the heart of COVID in 2020. We were able to relay our story to the leadership and be approved to purchase their products. They appreciated what we were doing as a farm and wanted to see us carry the product. But, we got our first shipment in – experimented here and there with it and not until the fall of 2022 did we really start selling it (at the urging of an awesome customer). We find all the varieties of Seedlip™ to be wonderful. They’ve done a great job making recipe’s easy to find. In fact – its why they created this non-alcoholic spirit was to have an alternative to the always seemingly sweet mocktails available (e.g. a virgin daiquiri). The recipe Seedlip™ shared with us we use almost exclusively is below. Its fitting with us being apple growers – they named it an Apple Highball. NOTE: we’ve stopped carrying Seedlip™ in the tasting room, simply because of our set up – it’s much easier for us to serve a pre-mixed mocktail.
Apple Highball Recipe:
- Ingredients:
- Seedlip™ Garden 108 – 2.0 oz
- Sheffields Double Black – 1.0 oz
- Lemon Juice – ½ oz
- Maple Syrup – ½ oz
- Soda Water – top off with this.
- Ice.
- Garnish – apple fan.
- Method – place all ingredients except soda water into a cocktail shaker w/ ice. Shake and strain into a chilled highball glass. Top w/ soda water and add fresh ice. Garnish with the apple fan.
I shared a bit of the story above. We’ve been working with the folks at Sheffield for 5 years now. They provided us the ability to be the distributor for this area. So we keep spreading the good word on their cider and keep enough on hand to supply other businesses in the area. They’ve got a whole host of flavors you can see on their website. Double Black and the new Cosmic Crisp® cider have been very popular. This cider is a great gift for the holidays or it works wonderful to have on hand in case your hosting someone who doesn’t drink. We offer it as part of gift packs for folks year round.
We’ve had great success carrying Athletic Beer. And they really do resemble a beer – plus no funky taste. However do be aware there is a small amount of alcohol still in them. Our go to’s have been the Upside Dawn Golden and Run Wild IPA. They seem to be very widely available and coming out with more and more options. We’re excited about what this company offers.
I hope this article has been helpful! We love hosting. And we love even more when we can have something special to offer someone not used to having many options. As a side note – the wine making world has played with lowering the alcohol on wine using reverse osmosis. What we’ve tasted hasn’t been worth it. We’re not sure we’ll go here… but, you can keep an eye out for wines naturally lower in alcohol – maybe the 13% zone vs. 15% plus. Often times white wines can be lower in alcohol. Mother nature sometimes steers this for us, but it is possible to keep it lower. Like moderation in consuming alcohol, making beautiful wine is all about balance. And we celebrate wines ability as a fantastic connector. Please have an amazing holiday season. And if you’re considering non-alcoholic options – we’re happy to support you – in the tasting room and with gifting.
Cheers,
