"Back in 2024, after a reporting trip for a whiskey magazine, I got tired of drinking. Perhaps it was the sluggishness I felt each morning, or maybe it was the podcast I'd heard while traveling, which shared the news that one or two glasses of red wine was not, as we had long been told, healthy. Whatever the reason, I tossed in the daily drinking towel after that trip, figuring that going forward, I might only have a drink or two every now and again."
"But once I discovered that drink menus could serve up more than just overly sweet mocktails and that bartenders could do more with alcohol-free beverages than just shoot Sprite from a soda gun, I found it easier and easier to skip alcohol entirely when dining out. I noticed that my meals started to become more memorable and my taste buds felt less strangled from tannin-heavy wine pairings."
A person stopped daily drinking after a 2024 whiskey-magazine reporting trip due to sluggish mornings and new research questioning the healthiness of moderate wine. Discovering creative nonalcoholic drink menus and skilled bartenders made skipping alcohol easier when dining out. Meals became more memorable and taste buds felt less constrained by tannin-heavy wine pairings. Nonalcoholic beverages complemented dishes and provided an alternative path at top restaurants, especially alongside tasting menus that highlight region and season. Gallup tracking shows American drinking rates fell to 54 percent last year, an eight-point decline over two years, coinciding with research challenging moderate alcohol benefits.
Read at Slate Magazine
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