Michele StuevenThe U.S. Department of Agriculture, together with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, released their dietary guidelines for 2020 to 2025 last week. Living in a pandemic world has taught us a lot, including building a healthy immune system. Not surprisingly, the new recommendations include focusing on nutrient-dense food and beverages as well as limiting sugar, alcohol and calories. Hello dry January.
Looking to reset and start the new year on the right foot? Here are eight fresh and palatable ideas for a month-long liver cleanse.
Sister brands SipCozy and SipClean have launched a Dry January Challenge encouraging healthy habits and wellness practices for 31 days. The SipClean sparkling rosé is an alcohol-removed blend of Grenache and Cabernet Sauvignon grapes made by California winemakers with 30 calories and five grams of sugar. Each 12 oz can of SipClean is equal to two six ounce pours of wine.
Betera Spritzes (Michele Stueven)
Ritual Zero Proof’s tequila, whiskey and gin alternatives capture the taste, aroma and bite of liquor without the alcohol or calories. Substitute them for traditional liquor for a non-alcoholic margarita, gin and tonic or Old Fashioned.
Surreal Brewing, the award-winning family-owned non-alcoholic brewing company offers seven styles of non-alcoholic craft beers, made with all-natural, non-GMO ingredients, with lower carbs and fewer calories than other non-alcoholic beers. The Campbell, Calif. company has two gluten-reduced styles and zero sugar options starting at 17 calories per can. Dress up your brew with these recipes:
Surreal Float
- 1 Can Surreal Pastry Porter or 17 Mile Porter
- 2 scoops of a whipped topping or vanilla ice cream
- Pour beer into a large glass and add two scoops of your favorite cream treat.
Surreal Beer Berry Fizz
- 1 Can of Surreal Natural Bridges Kolsch
- Small Handful of Berries of your choice
- Pour Beer in festive glass and add slightly crushed berries
Kassava Boba Kit (Michele Stueven)
According to Kassava co-founders Vy Duong and Victoria Reyes, it started off as a phone call between two friends catching up on a few favorite things they missed during quarantine – traveling and boba tea. They dove into extensive research and came up with their own custom boba tea recipe that they have packaged into a variety of fun kits of tapioca pearls and selection of teas including green, oolong, Thai and black.
Developed by chefs Paul Eschbach and Nick Benz, Betera has a choice of three crisp bottled spritzes with five grams of sugar each. There’s rhubarb hibiscus with grapefruit peel and vanilla bean as well as kaffir lime with elderflower, both 20 calories. The ginger orange with turmeric (16 calories) is the perfect match for a spicy salmon. Garnish with an Arnett Farms dried cara cara orange slice. All three keto cocktails are not clawingly sweet and work well for slow sipping, available online and at Farmshop and K&L Wine.
Proteau (Michele Stueven)
Founded by Ben Branson in 2015, Seedlip was the first distilled non-alcoholic spirits brand to launch the booze-free botanical trend, making its way into bars across L.A. Inspired by the 17th century book, The Art of Distillation, Branson experimented with a copper still and homegrown herbs to develop.
Aromatic Spice 94, Herbal Garden 108 and Citrus Grove 42, all of which have no alcohol, calories or sugar. They can be served simply with a splash of ginger ale or tonic, or used to craft elevated non-alcoholic cocktails like a Cosmopolitan, Spiced Mule or a Riverbank Martini.
After 10 years of running bars for the Momofuku group, recipe development and consulting, John deBary launched Proteau, zero-proof botanical drinks. Ludlow Red blends blackberry, violet, black pepper, dandelion and fig vinegar for a dark and silky sip that pairs well with a rich pasta. The Rivington Spritz is made with wild strawberries, rhubarb, hibiscus, chamomile and champagne vinegar.
Virgin Mary (Courtesy Middlebar)
Originally crafted for their sober friends, Corrie Scully and Renie Schoenkerman developed a Bloody Mary recipe that went on to be deemed L.A.’s Best Bloody Mary by L.A. Weekly. While their beloved Inglewood restaurant Middlebar has closed, the couple went on to bottle the mix to be combined with tequila or vodka. But it’s a delightful appetizer on its own and counts as a salad if garnished properly with Middlebar’s pickled celery, spicy beans and zesty cucumber spears.
Instead of using horseradish for heat, the Southern inspired Virgin Mary mix features cayenne pepper.
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