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Drinking was never a taboo in my family. Everyone drank – my mother, my father, my grandmother and her mother too. When my great-grandmother died and we opened her cupboard, we opened large ceramic jars filled with old sherry that she had hidden. I think she used to have a glass every night, but apparently she couldn’t drink it fast enough, left a lot of it behind, and sadly most of that fine wine was turned into vinegar . What’s the harm?
Unlike most Hindu middle class families, ours was a bit more urban and unconventional. Any excuse was an excuse to open a bottle and drink. Like the “every Sunday morning beer sessions” where elders sat on my aunt’s fully air-conditioned sun-room on her open terrace, where bottles of cold beer flowed with cocktails like the now-forgotten gimlet – gin and limes Juice – or Tom Collins- Gin with lemon juice, sugar and club soda, and our house-made Martini-Gin with Cinzano Vermouth Rosso.
Cinzano, for those who may know it, was an aperitif created in 1757 by two Italian brothers, Giovanni Giacomo and Carlo Stefano Cinzano, in a secret recipe using Italian red wine, sugar, and aromatic plants from the Italian Alps. 35 ingredients were combined with. Occasionally, one will try making some Bloody Marys – basically a spiced tomato juice mixed with lemon juice, orange juice, Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco, salt, vodka, salt with celery stalks Poured into a glass with a rim of K. I sometimes beg for a Bloody Mary without the vodka. It’s called the Virgin Mary, which my grandfather used to make fun of and called ‘Bloody Shame’.
In the evening, there were only three types of people – whiskey drinkers, dark rum drinkers and wine drinkers. However, alcohol was dishonest in those days. In the early 70s, Shaw Wallace established a winery in Hyderabad and launched a range of wines under the ‘Golconda’ brand name. It tasted terrible, and I’m not even sure it was alcohol. It could have been a well flavored wine. UB Group started a winery in Baramati in collaboration with Bosca of Italy using Bangalore Blue grapes. In my memory, Bosca, Golconda and Goa were the ports that constituted the entire wine industry in India. Good whiskey was always smuggled into India, VAT 69, Dimple, Johnnie Walker were the scotch brands featured in Hindi movies and most bars.
With so much alcohol around me, without inhibitions or abstinence, it was not surprising that I had started drinking by the time I was out of school. There was no secrecy, it was all done openly in the company of the family and at home. We were a family of drinkers. Men, women and youth alike.
Now that I turn 58, with 43 years of drinking behind me, I’ve had the privilege of tasting some of the best whiskey, tasted the best beer, tasted the most expensive bubbly and grape. I’ve also been to the best bars and clubs in the world and frequented the cheapest watering holes, hanging out at the shadyest digs, dance bars and cabarets. Drunk in cars, planes, trains, boats, on beaches and locks, at sunrise and sunset, and at all hours between and after. Up to a point where I decided enough was enough. I put the bottle up. I haven’t had a sip of alcohol for the last two years. Although I don’t really get tempted when someone else is drinking around me, I do remember alcohol at certain times. Like I often remember holding something in my hands and drinking it, especially during a wet lunch when others are sipping a G&T, or when I’m abroad and the weather is calling for some good single malts.
Last month, I was in the countryside in England, and then in Wales, the weather was nice and we went to the local pub for a sundowner. Dying for a drink but feeling sad that I had given up, the girl behind the bar offered me 0% Peroni beer. That began, in me, a growing love for the zero-alcoholic drink. And I can consider myself quite hooked now.
Today, non-alcoholic similarities of your favorite wine are so readily available in India. Starting with beer. Some of the world’s biggest brewers have launched 0% alcohol versions of their famous brands. Budweiser 0.0, Heineken 0.0, Hoegaarden 0.0 and Hoegaarden Rosee 0.0 are available everywhere, including online.
Swami, who first launched with a range of Tonic Waters a few years back, now offers Rum & Cola, G&T and Pink G&T. Flavored with juniper and various citrus, all with wonderful botanical and strawberry infusion. Another Indian brand of 0% alcoholic beverage is Kati Patang. They have a really refreshing juniper flavored G&T with lemon and basil, as well as other cocktails like the Cosmopolitan with cranberry, triple sec, and orange flavors. A very good Old Fashioned with a distinctive bourbon whiskey flavor and nose with fruit juices, and vanilla and nutty notes.
While the non-alcoholic universe was blooming, a Danish beverage company called ISH Drinks launched its own range of ISH drinks. Guinish (made from natural botanicals like juniper berries, coriander seeds and chilies), Ramish (made from natural botanicals like Madagascar vanilla, nutmeg, baked apple and chili) all delicious and all alcohol free. And these are easily available online.
In fact, if you. go to the website zero percent, you can find a range of non-alcoholic drinks such as the Naughty – a German sparkling Chardonnay made from grapes from southern Spain; Coast – A Belgian, alcohol-free craft beer with citrus and tropical fruit flavors and many more mixers and drinks.
However, my favorite is this Goa-based gin which has zero carbs, zero sugar, zero alcohol and only five calories. It is aptly called sober gin. It tastes like gin, really ignites from inside you like gin, but doesn’t get you drunk. It is scented with extracts of juniper, ashwagandha, basil, arjuna, angelica root and green tea. I’ve totally taken it, and have gone back to my wet lunches with gin and tonic. I can feel my dry days coming to an end.
Kunal Vijaykar is a food writer based in Mumbai. He tweets @kunalvijayakar and can be followed on Instagram @kunalvijayakar. What is the name of his YouTube channel? The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not represent the stand of this publication.
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