What do you drink on a night out when not drinking?

ulinbac

Hi Guys,

Thought this is better suited to here rather than AH.

So basically my friend and I are off drink for January and still want to go out to the pub with mates at the weekend. Does anyone here go out and not drink or have some kind of non-alcoholic mix that they get in the pub?

I have tried nights on Lucozade, coke etc., but after 2 I'm done with them. I have tried, tonic water with a dash of lime and a lemon (Dad said he used to drink it when he came off the booze for lent back about 40 years ago), its ok. I never was the biggest drinker but just like having a drink in my hand and wouldn't do a night on just water. Any ideas what I can use for a substitute?


Thanks in advance

meeeeh

Bottled water. I could drink tap water but I think it's not fair to spend the whole evening somewhere and not spending anything.

Mr Simpson

I quite enjoy non alcoholic beer from time to time

Toast4532

I switch between water, club orange/fanta, coke, etc. I have done many a night on just water though.

I wouldn't be the biggest drinker and if I do drink, I have two at the most, but most times I usually have one drink. Even if I drink at home, I have one or two, but usually just the one.

Sauve

Orange Juice here. Goes down a lot easier than fizzy drinks. Pints of miwadi are good too

ArtyC

Soda water!! Love the fizz and doesn't give you that awful sugar hangover!!

baby and crumble

I don't really drink, so I've come up with a few drinks for nights out, depending on how I'm feeling, how much money I have and the kind of place I'm in.

Soft drinks like coke etc.- grand but can be expensive

Soda water and lime- lovely and refreshing

Ginger ale- I just love this stuff

Pints of cordial- usually when I'm broke/ out dancing and get thirsty!

Non alcoholic cocktails-

"Shirley temple" aka ginger ale with grenadine syrup. Tasty, a bit unusual but quite sugary because of the syrup. Some places won't have the grenadine, although anywhere that does decent cocktails will.

"Roy Rogers"- as above but with coke instead of ginger ale

Cranberry juice & lemonade

If it is a place that does cocktails just tell the guy you're not drinking but you want a cocktail. If he's any good hell knock something together for you and it might be amazing!!!

Little Acorn

Pint glass of miwadi with ice.
Very refreshing, cheap or even free in some places too.

pwurple

Water
sparkling water (usually this at the start of a pregnancy because it looks like a g+t if you lose the bottle)
ginger ale with lime

I used to like non-alcoholic erdinger but it is very filling and heavy.

If I do a night out on soft drinks or non-alcoholic beer i end up with the pain in the head the next morning, and the fuzzy sugary feeling on my teeth.

realgirl

Pint of blackcurrant, sparkling water, soda water, ginger ale, peppermint tea. A mix of cranberry and orange juice is nice too. For a dinner party / house party I'd get something like sparkling elderflower, schloer, amé, old fashioned lemonade. Anything but coke, club orange etc!

Neyite

I alternate between non-alcoholic beer, cranberry juice, or pint of mi-wadi

I love ginger ale but they only do the tiny bottles in pubs for mixers so you'd have to buy a few of them to have a decent drink. Pubs really have a poor selection of non-alcoholic drinks really - most of them are mixers without the alcohol.

Pembily

Soda or sparkling water and a dash of lime. Ginger ale is nice too but as Neyite said it's a small bottle and expensive.

Sometimes I would have a coke or orange juice but I find more than two is too much.

The_Mask

If im not charged the same price as a pint, i stick to the blackcurrant & water. I was once charged e4 for one in a hotel! nearly puked on the bar

eviltwin

I never knew you could get pints of mi-wadi in pubs!!! :eek:

I don't drink much and I hate buying soft drinks ( too expensive ) and I'm not a fan of juice. Mi-wadi would be perfect for me. Thanks for the tip.

Sparkling water, ice and a slice.

Stench Blossoms

Pint of blackcurrant. Soft drinks would bloat me and they are stupid expensive as well.

MissFlitworth

Sparkling water & lime, you get a decent sized bottle of ballygowan in most pubs so will last longer than a horrible flat pub soft drink (I always find dumping a room temp bottle of soft drink over ice wrecks it)

In Germany I used to drink a lot of 'apfelschorle' in pubs, it's apple juice topped up with sparkling water and is lovely over loads of ice

cantdecide

Pineapple juice, please barkeep

It's a complicated one. No point in getting pints of soft drinks if you're out with friends doing rounds. Two or three in a night is quite enough anyway so I usually buy a round early on in a night and if I get one or two back, that will keep the world turning.

Pembily

If I'm not drinking I won't drink from a pint glass on a night out as I get too many questions as to why I'm not drinking. That's why sparkling water with lime is good, no questions asked.

Pineapple juice with lots of ice is a good one.

Lia_lia

Bag of coke? Few pills? JOOOKING. Only a joke. Don't ban me!

I often go out not drinking. Usually drink soda water and lime. But I guess it's up to what you like. Couldn't be drinking soft drinks all night..too much sugar!

In France I always get sirop fraise (strawberry syrup) with water. Pity you can't get anything like that in pubs here. Well, grenadine, but that's a bit mank.

Pints of mi-wadi are another good one. Bars often charge for these because they think you might have a naggin in your bag, pain in the arse. But it's often the case I suppose.

In the bar I work in people often ask for non alcoholic cocktails. Which is usually a loada fruit just mixed together! Some places do really nice non-alcoholic cocktails...usually very overpriced though.

Pythia

I generally just have cokes. I think I had 6 once, pretty horrible! I quite like J20s if available. Love it when places have non alcoholic cocktails, I think mojitos taste just as good without the alcohol!

McChubbin

The rose Schloer is lovely. Tastes like weak wine but without the hangover. Also +1 to the soda/tonic water and lime concotion. I tend to live on the stuff these days. Trying to detox for January but I'm still drinking mixes of Budweizer and TK Red Lemonade. I want to cut down so I'm going to switch to non-alcoholic beers.
BTW, I'd love a Shirley Temple right now.

LittleBook

I don't have a sweet tooth at all so a Virgin Mary would be my non-alcoholic cocktail of choice. Good to see that savoury cocktails in general are becoming more popular.

Ah_Yeah

Orange MiWadi for me. You can get them in a small glass too and it just looks like a mixer with your drink

rainbow kirby

Juice cocktails if they are available, otherwise generally J2O or Diet Coke or something like that. NA Erdinger or Paulaner also, but they're no substitute for the real deal.

ElleEm

Whether I'm drinking alcohol or not, I always start with a water.
On a non- alcohol night I tend to have an orange juice or two, or a blackcurrant, but mainly water.

rainbow kirby

ElleEm wrote: »

Whether I'm drinking alcohol or not, I always start with a water.

I tend to drink quite a bit of water when I *am* on the beer too, can sometimes be a pint of water for every pint of beer. Generally means I'm a lot less hung over afterwards.

Chuckels

Definitely the cordials for me (usually alternate between Blackcurrant and orange).

Pembily wrote: »

If I'm not drinking I won't drink from a pint glass on a night out as I get too many questions as to why I'm not drinking.

I would probably get a pint of cordial for handiness sake, but if I think questions will be asked and I'm not up for that, I would just get a cordial in a small glass, could be a vodka for all anyone knows...

starlit

You can always have something that looks like you might be drinking something alcoholic that isn't. Like non alcoholic beer. Any of the fizzy drinks. Would you try buck fizz there is very little alcohol in it. Vary your mineral drinks more maybe with a bit more fruity or sweet flavours.

cantdecide

What works best as an excuse when someone spots that you're not drinking is tell them 'oh I'm driving tonight'. For some reason, people accept that. I used to say that even when I was living in the city center.

Lia_lia

I don't understand why people are saying what excuses to give as to why you're not drinking.

Who cares if you're not drinking for whatever reason? Unless you're, I dunno, hiding the fact that you are on medication or something. Or hiding a pregnancy..

cantdecide

Lia_lia wrote: »

I don't understand why people are saying what excuses to give as to why you're not drinking.

Who cares if you're not drinking for whatever reason? Unless you're, I dunno, hiding the fact that you are on medication or something. Or hiding a pregnancy..

Rule #1 of not drinking is you never bring it up because you will be treated differently. I've had all kinds of reactions over the years to not drinking up to and including open hostility.

Lia_lia

Oh right. My friends couldn't care less if I drink or not.

DJKendo

Is it weird for lads to get a SodaWater & Lime? I can recall my Mam used to get it a lot when we have meals in a hotel or whatever. Also, what would be the general price? €2.50 like Coke/Lucozade?

I'm a non-drinker myself so always open to suggestions to switch things up

Gillo

Non alcoholic Erdinger, but I used to drink "regular" Erdinger. I've tried soft drink but if you are out for the night I found it's way to much sugar.

cantdecide

Lia_lia wrote: »

Oh right. My friends couldn't care less if I drink or not.

Mine neither, but when I was younger I would not be invited to events if people knew they were going to be a hard session. It's normally everyone else that you meet that will have the issue. From randomers at parties to your mates mates.

Pythia

cantdecide wrote: »

Rule #1 of not drinking is you never bring it up because you will be treated differently. I've had all kinds of reactions over the years to not drinking up to and including open hostility.

I drink a bit but not much. So often I won't have anything but sometimes I'll have two or three. At my Xmas party I was offered a jäger bomb and I was like sorry but absolutely no way! They were like oh go on, oh come on, why not, why aren't you drinking, etc... Then I explained and I funny look. Get asked a lot what's wrong with me or people buying me alcoholic drinks when I've asked for a soft drink. E.g they didn't have Cidona so I got you this Baileys.

It really is funny, I think sometimes people don't like it as you highlight their drinking.

Twee.

Another +1 for sparkling water and lime, so fresh and not sickly if you have a few, unlike other soft drinks.

xLexie

Would generally drink west coast cooler if I was taking it easy/not supposed to be drinking on nights out.

Ella

Pints of water. I only really drink milk or water in general but a pint of milk might look too odd

pwurple

xLexie wrote: »

Would generally drink west coast cooler if I was taking it easy/not supposed to be drinking on nights out.

West coast cooler is stronger than some beers. It's 3.5%.

IrishAm

Gillo wrote: »

Non alcoholic Erdinger, but I used to drink "regular" Erdinger. I've tried soft drink but if you are out for the night I found it's way to much sugar.

That would prove to be just as expensive, no?

I would drink pints of tap water with a few slices of lime - but tip a dollar/euro with each order.

Vojera

I would generally go for cordials and I might get the odd club orange or britvic for a change.

I've noticed that some of my friends really can't understand why anyone wouldn't drink. They honestly believe there's no craic to be had without alcohol. But while I used to get a lot of questions about why I wasn't drinking, they've gotten used to the fact that I take notions of not drinking now.

The car is a great excuse. If I know I'll only have two beers and then I'll have had enough then I'll just drive and not drink at all instead. The fact that I can give them a lift home rather than paying for a taxi keeps them happy.

Snoopy1

I hate it when people dont understand why your not drinking.
You get the conversation
"why are you not drinking?"
Im Just not
"have one"
No thanks
"One wont hurt you"
No thanks
"Go on just one"
No thanks
"one doesnt mean anything, you sure your not pregnant"
No im not, i just dont want to drink.
"its no fun without a real drink, just have one"
No Thanks
"Ahhh just one???"
F**k off and leave me alone!!!!!

I actually had to get an ex to explain to his dad, not to ask me about drink, as this conversation used to go on every night out, it drove me mad.

As for the drinks i usually stick to fizzy water, might try the bit of lime in it though

cantdecide

Snoopy1 wrote: »

I hate it when people dont understand why your not drinking.
You get the conversation
"why are you not drinking?"
Im Just not
"have one"
No thanks
"One wont hurt you"
No thanks
"Go on just one"
No thanks
"one doesnt mean anything, you sure your not pregnant"
No im not, i just dont want to drink.
"its no fun without a real drink, just have one"
No Thanks
"Ahhh just one???"
F**k off and leave me alone!!!!!

I actually had to get an ex to explain to his dad, not to ask me about drink, as this conversation used to go on every night out, it drove me mad.

As for the drinks i usually stick to fizzy water, might try the bit of lime in it though

I mean how would they react if you told them you were a vegetarian?

Ah go on shur just one little steak won't hurt you. Ah go on...

cdaly_

Snoopy1 wrote: »

I hate it when people dont understand why your not drinking.
You get the conversation
"why are you not drinking?"
Im Just not
"have one"
No thanks
"One wont hurt you"
No thanks
"Go on just one"
No thanks
"one doesnt mean anything, you sure your not pregnant"
No im not, i just dont want to drink.
"its no fun without a real drink, just have one"
No Thanks
"Ahhh just one???"
F**k off and leave me alone!!!!!

"Oh all right, I'll have a whiskey and a bottle of fizzy water".

Then leave the whiskey on the table and nip up to the bar for an empty glass. They might get the message when there are 5 untouched whiskeys sitting on the table...

Huckster

I don't drink, so usually get a fanta or orange juice on a night out. Tbh people hardly notice it's not an alcoholic drink unless they're beside me when I order. I second Vojera's comment that a lot of people simply cannot comprehend why someone else would choose not to drink. I've found this kind of mindset to be much more prevelent in Ireland and it can be really irritating when people demand a 'reason' for not drinking- surely people should have the right to choose not to without being on antibiotics or pregnant...!

cantdecide

Here's an interesting discussion on Boards about what non drinkers have to endure feature such comments as;

I just dont trust non drinkers. I feel the either have something to hide, or dont trust their tempers with a few pints on board.

Saying "i just dont" doesnt sway well either.. How can you turn your nose up at the hundreds of drinks you havent tried yet.

Saying "i dont like feeling drunk"? Just stop long before you get drunk.