The Drinks To Drink When You Don't Want A Buzz

With help from some friends, CulinaryWoman tests a flock of zero alcohol beverages

Hello and welcome to the CulinaryWoman Newsletter! If this is your first issue, I’m thrilled that you’re joining us and if you’re a returning reader, I’m so glad you came back.

This is a big holiday weekend, with Valentine’s Day as one book end and President’s Day as the other. Hopefully, you’re getting to enjoy some kind of break from routine, even if it’s just to eat a heart shaped cookie or cherry pie.

A Table Full of Options

Regular readers know that CulinaryWoman is constantly being offered all kinds of free food items to test. I don’t accept alcohol, meat or anything with a great deal of value. I also am not paid to do reviews.

But when brands offer things that are intriguing, or which fit a trend, I’ll give them a try.

Recently, that included a wide variety of zero alcohol drinks. Although Dry January is over, an increasing number of people, especially younger ones, are giving up booze or cutting way back on it.

I found myself with boxes of booze-free beverages, so I enlisted some help for a taste test, using these cute Dixie Cups.

The panel included me, chef Max Sussman, his wife, Kate McCabe, a food travel expert, and their son Alo. Max is known around Ann Arbor for his pop ups, including Pizza Replicator and Bev’s Bagels, and he’s also been a partner with his chef brother Eli in New York City.

Later this year, he’ll be opening his own place in Ann Arbor, named for Alo. It will feature pizza, pasta, and maybe some of these zero alcohol beverages. Meanwhile, Kate is booking trips to Ireland via her company Bog & Thunder, and you can read about them here.

From the wine list

90 Plus Cellars sent two varieties of sparkling beverages with the alcohol removed: a brut and a rose. It’s an interesting company, which was founded to package wine from a number of wineries worldwide under a new brand. Since 2009, it has released more than 200 wines in four ascending price categories.

Its brut and rose are made in the South of France, and have only 25 calories per glass. They each retail for $15.99 a bottle, which is affordable given that some ZA wines cost as much as $70. This non-alcoholic wine is traditionally made, and then the alcohol is removed through reverse osmosis, which preserves the aromas and flavors.

The sparklers were a hit, and we could easily see serving either of them at a brunch, baby shower or for dinner. You could mix the brut with orange or peach juice for delicious mimosas or bellinis.

Bouchain, of Napa Valley, sent a bottle of its non-alcoholic rose. It had a delicate flavor and a pleasant vibe. We could see sipping on this on a warm afternoon, and perhaps using it as the base for a mixed drink. It was nice to dream about rose season amid our snow.

Zero alcohol cocktails

Speaking of mixed drinks, Greenbar Distillery sent over two packages of ready to drink beverages. UnGin and Tonic is described as “bright, zesty and dry” with “all of the qualities of a freshly-made G&T in a canned cocktail, save for the buzz.”

Greenbar calls UnSpritz “floral, fuchsia and fun, this California version of an afternoon Italian tradition lets you chill without a buzz.”

The names were pretty descriptive. UnGin and Tonic was a facsimile of a G&T that went down easily. We thought it could be improved with a squeeze of lime.

The UnSpritz had the pleasant bitterness of an amaro, and was another drink that would be nice on a sunny day outdoors. Check out their full NA lineup on their website.

Social tonics

Alo’s eyes lit up when he spotted the four pack of beverages from Hiyo. It calls its zero alcohol line “social tonics.” He deftly acted as the official opened of the cans, which included blackberry lemon, peach mango, strawberry guava and watermelon lime.

Hiyo says its beverages “are mindfully crafted with organic adaptogens, natural nootropics, and functional botanicals to provide a stress-relieving, mood-boosting lift we like to call ‘the float.’”

All of the flavors were fruity and had nice scents. Although Hiyo calls them seltzers, they are far less fizzy than other zero alcohol beverages on the market. Alo was a big fan of the watermelon version.

A pair of delicious pastas

As I was cataloging the zero-alcohol crop, I received a box in the mail from Sfoglini. They’re the craft pasta company that teamed up with Dan Pashman, the creator of the Sporkful podcast, to create his wildly popular Cascatelli pasta.

Sfoglini, which makes a variety of bronze die cut shapes, asked if I’d be interested in trying their first long pastas. They sent me a packet of bucatini and one of Bigoli to try. I followed the cooking instructions and both came out perfectly.

Bucatini is a long, thin tube, which allows the sauce to permeate the noodle. Bigoli is a long thicker strand. I ate both with some homemade tomato sauce and vegetables, and I would happy buy both noodles for future consumption.

Please let me know if you try any of the drinks or the pasta and share your thoughts.

Italian Icon Bialetti Gets a New Owner

When I moved back to Ann Arbor almost two years ago, I was delighted that my furnished apartment cupboard contained a Bialetti Moka Pot espresso maker.

I’d always wanted to learn to use one, and this gave me the opportunity to learn the system of stove top brewing. I subsequently bought the small and medium sizes and have been enjoying the flavorful results from my Bialetti, which has been around since 1933.

It’s a good thing I purchased the old-school versions, because Bialetti may soon no longer be Italian. It has received a takeover offer from Nuo Capital, a subsidiary of Hong Kong’s World Wide Investment Company.

Bialetti is saddled with $94 million in debt, and it is seeing sales of its no frills device plummet in the face of modern conveniences such as coffee pod machines.

To be sure, Bialetti has tried to stay contemporary. It has broadened its lineup beyond aluminum moka pots. It recently produced a 24 carat gold version for designers Dolce and Gabbana that Liberace would have loved. The retail price was $2,645, or about $2,600 more than my bigger pot.

News of the pending sale comes as some other Italian brands have also been bought by Chinese firms, including Pirelli tires and Ferretti yachts.

Sidewalk Seating Stalls In New York City

Sidewalk cafes have always been scattered around New York City, but outdoor dining really took off during the pandemic. Entire blocks were filled with tables, chairs and huts where diners could gather safely.

Last year, however, NYC made some significant changes to its guidelines governing sidewalk cafes. This year, the city has dragged its heels on granting permits. Out of 3,700 applications, only 40 permits have been approved, according to New York Magazine.

The applications seem to be stuck in bureaucratic limbo. On the Dining Out NYC website, the city’s Department of Transportation, which oversees the program, advises that it can require up to six months for applications to be approved after the agency “receives a complete and accurate application.”

Brad Lander, the NYC comptroller, is worried that restaurant owners won’t have enough time to make plans if their licenses are approved just before the April 1 re-opening. “The DOT knew when the law was passed that they were going to have this responsibility,” he told the magazine. “They knew that the applications were coming in by last August. And they just were not approved to hire up the staff necessary to approve all these applications.”

Fingers crossed that NYC will straighten out the red table tangle so diners can relax outdoors once more.

Keeping Up With CulinaryWoman

For Food & Wine, I wrote about the looming new tariffs and how they may boost food prices. It especially pains me to see us sparring with Canada, because I’ve enjoyed so many visits there.

Please reach out to me at culinarywoman (@) gmail dot com, or reply to this newsletter. I’m happy to hear from you and would love to know if there are topics you’d like me to cover.

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• Website: www.michelinemaynard.com

• Email: culinarywoman (@) gmail dot com

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Tomorrow, paid subscribers are getting a special treat from a three-star Michelin restaurant. If you’d like to join them, please upgrade your subscription.

Meanwhile, my book Satisfaction Guaranteed is coming up on its second anniversary this Saturday! I’m thrilled that it’s done so well. You can find it at Bookshop.org and your local booksellers.

Have a good week, and keep in touch.