Mindful Drinking & Moderation in Midlife: How to Drink Less, On Your Terms
How do I drink less without quitting completely? What's the difference between alcohol-free, low alcohol, and no alcohol drinks? Why can't I handle alcohol like I used to? How do I cut back when everyone around me is still drinking? Why do alcohol-free drinks cost so much?
If you're in your 30s, 40s, 50s or beyond and asking these questions, this is your podcast.
Welcome to the essential show for midlife adults who want to drink less, on their own terms—without the pressure to quit completely, follow rigid rules, or label themselves as sober.
I'm Denise Hamilton-Mace, your mindful drinking mentor, magazine editor, writer and public speaker on all things low, no and light. Each week, I help stressed parents and busy midlife adults navigate their relationship with alcohol through practical approaches grounded in real-world experience and behaviour change strategy, not willpower or wellness culture
What you'll get:
Mindful Moderation Solo Episodes – Deep-dives answering the questions that matter to sophisticated drinkers who want to moderate smartly:
- How do I cut back when my partner still drinks at home?
- Why do premium alcohol-free drinks cost the same as full-strength versions?
- How do I navigate social situations when I'm the only one moderating?
- What really works: willpower vs. strategy?
Drinks 101 Mini-Series – Short educational episodes demystifying the confusing world of low and no alcohol drinks:
- What does ABV actually mean?
- What's the real difference between non-alcoholic, alcohol-free, low alcohol, and light beer?
- How are alcohol-free drinks made?
- Which drinks are safe for pregnancy, driving, or recovery?
Meet the Makers – Intimate conversations with the founders, brewers, distillers, and visionaries creating the premium drinks and experiences that support your moderation goals.
This podcast is for you if:
- You want drinks that taste like the ones you already love
- You're looking for practical advice that fits your demanding life, not another wellness overhaul
- You recognise that coasting with mid-strength drinks, zebra-striping, or bookending your evening with something non-alcoholic are all valid strategies
- You want better mornings without giving up celebrating life's special moments
This isn't about going completely dry or reinventing yourself. It's about keeping energy for what matters most: family, health, career, and living life on your own terms.
Join the moderation revolution happening in midlife – because while Gen Z gets the headlines, you're the one actually doing it.
Mindful Drinking & Moderation in Midlife: How to Drink Less, On Your Terms
Mindful Drinking Advent 16: Finding Alcohol-Free Drinks You Genuinely Love
YOUR DATA, YOUR CHOICE: WEIGH UP THE TRUE IMPACT OF DRINKING FROM LIGHT – MEDIUM – HEAVY DAYS WITH THE DRINKING IMPACT CALCULATOR AT https://mindfuldrinkinginmidlife.com/products/drinking-impact-calculator
On Day Sixteen of the Mindful Drinking Advent, we’re talking about just how far low, no and light alcohol drinks have come — and why if you’ve tried one, you definitely haven’t tried them all.
This episode encourages you to keep an open mind, experiment like you once did with full-strength drinks, and treat low/no as exploration rather than restriction.
From pubs and supermarkets to specialist online retailers, there’s never been more choice — and plenty that genuinely tastes fantastic.
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You can email me at denise@lownodrinkermagazine.com
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🗣️ Join the growing community on Substack
https://lownodrinker.substack.com/
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🌱 Reset the way alcohol shows up in your life with the 4 Week Midlife Mindful Drinking Reset
https://www.lownodrinker.com/4weekreset
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🧮 Drinking Impact Calculator: Find your personal tipping point
https://mindfuldrinkinginmidlife.com/products/drinking-impact-calculator
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🧐 Take the quiz and find out what's REALLY driving your midlife drinking habits
https://www.lownodrinker.com/
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*Some links are affiliate links. If you make a purchase, Low No Drinker may earn a commission. Thank you.
Hiya and welcome to day 16 of our mindful drinking audio advent. Today we're talking about low no that actually tastes fantastic. My name is Denise Hamilton Mace. I'm your mindful drinking mentor, and you're listening to the Mindful Drinking and Moderation in Midlife podcast, which is going daily for December. Now, a few years ago when I was still working in bars and restaurants, the low no or light alcohol offering behind the bar in any of the venues I worked in or went socializing in was absolutely dire. It was non-existent. In fact, I can remember a rep from Liars, the alcohol-free spirits brand, coming into one of my bars, and I was completely dismissive of him. Absolutely lovely chap. But at the time, myself, my bar manager, my ops director, none of us were very interested in it. Now I go into my local pubs. Two of them are Young's pubs, the others are independent, and I look around and there are displays in the middle of the bar of all the different alcohol-free drinks they've got. And they've got gins and beers and lager on draft that is alcohol-free. They've got a cocktail menu. In spring, they had a dedicated spritz alcohol-free menu. Things are changing, and that is fantastic news for those of us who like to drink differently. The range and the quality of these drinks has also expanded exponentially. There are gins that taste like actual gin, beers that taste like actual beer, wines that taste, well, wines they're working on it. But my point is that there are so many options for you out there now. There really is no excuse to say that you can't find anything that you like. I often say to people when they tell me that they tried an alcohol-free drink and they don't like it and they're not very good, and I ask them how many have you tried? And they'll normally tell me, one or two. And then I say, What's your favorite full strength drink? And let's imagine they say a glass of Sauvignon. And then I'll ask, How many glasses of Sauvignon Blanc did you try before you found your favourite one? And they can't tell me because of course nobody knows how many glasses of wine, how many bottles of beer, how many cans of cider we have tasted in our 20, 30, 40, 50 year drinking career. But what we do know is that we tasted some god-awful ones in that time. And yet we continued to persevere. We kept trying, we kept tasting, we kept going back. And if the drink tasted awful, what did we do? We just knocked it back, went to the bar, and asked for something different. If you gave that same opportunity to low, no and light alcohol drinks, I promise that you will find brand new favorites that you absolutely love. There are simply too many choices out there for you not to find something that you adore. So my message today is all about keeping an open mind when it comes to low-no and light alcohol drinks. Going on an exploration and finding things that you want to try. Treat yourself. Don't look at this as restriction, don't look at this as lesser. When you go into the supermarket and you're grabbing your beers for the weekend or your wines for your dinner party or whatever you're getting for your guests who are coming on Christmas Day, grab yourself a few low, no, or light options that look exciting, that look interesting. Something like, uh, depending on where you listen to these numbers, anything from 80 to 95% of people who buy low or no drinks also buy full-strength alcohol drinks. And a lot of that takes place in the supermarket because obviously it's very easy, and there you'll find brands that you recognize. However, I would also recommend that you go and check out dedicated online retailers because that's where the real gold is. When you check out sites like Dry Drinker, Wise Bartender, uh, the Alcohol Free Drinks Company, Alcoholfreydrinks.co, uh, mid-strength drinks, there are online retailers whose sole purpose is to bring low, no, and light alcohol drinks to the masses, and that is where you'll find creative drinks, you'll find unique flavours, you'll find different styles, you'll find alternatives, you'll find drinks that have 0%, 0.5%, all the way up to mid-strength drinks. There's so much to experiment with, and some of it is absolutely divine. Now, of course, not all of it is. I never pretend to you that everything is is fabulous, but like I said before, not every full strength drink you've tasted is fabulous either. Give them a try and make sure you come back and tell me what you've found that you adore because I'm always excited to try some new things. Now, behind today's door of the advent, when you open it, you'll be taken to uh day 16, of course, and at the bottom you will find my personal selection of some of my favorite, favorite low, no, and light drinks that I've tried over the year. So give those a go. Let me know what you think. I'll see you tomorrow for day 17. And until then, cheers to a Christmas less intoxicated.
