Tasty ways to celebrate Dry January

What is dry anyway? Is it the opposite of wet? The answer is, sometimes.

In liquor parlance, “dry” is also the opposite of sweet, and in some cases, it even means “less.” The dry Martini probably best illustrates this point. Is it “dry” because of the “dry” vermouth, or because of “dry” gin? Or is it “dry” because it has less vermouth? The truth is it is all the above, depending upon whom you are talking to. One thing for sure, a “dry Martini” is certainly not “dry” because it has no alcohol.

Let’s blame it on the French, at least initially. In French, “sec” means “dry,” but sec is often used to indicate something that is sweet, such as triple sec liqueur, one of the sweetest of all liqueurs, even though technically it reads “triple dry.” Further confusing the matter is demi-sec Champagne, which is one of the sweetest of all Champagne styles.

Or maybe we can blame it on the British? The term “dry January” is a registered trademark as of 2014 with Alcohol Change UK. The term denotes a month of abstaining from alcohol. The fact that dry January has been observed long before the copyright was registered does make those of us who observed it for decades before 2014 feel a little left out. And then there is the weather. With an atmospheric river running through it, uttering the words “dry” January this year just feels a little ironic.

But for those observing, dry January isn’t ironic or confusing. Dry January means abstaining from alcohol for the whole month, and while we might argue about what that means (technically it means under .5 percent per volume, or a half of 1%), there are a range of new products that fit this criterion. In order to mitigate any remaining confusion, I’ve taken the liberty of assembling some of those products.

• Free Spirits Co. “non-alcoholic spirits,” $38, 750 milliliters

The Spirit of Gin, Spirit of Tequila, Spirit of Bourbon and the recently introduced Spirit of Milano (a non-alcoholic Italian style amaro) aren’t necessarily designed as an exact straight substitution for distilled spirits (except perhaps the amaro). These “spirits” work best in cocktails, either completely alcohol-free ones, or as a way of reducing a cocktail’s overall alcohol content by replacing one or more of its spirits components. Founded by Tiburon’s Milan Martin, these products are alcohol-free but have the mouthfeel and the bite of that alcohol courtesy of capsicum. The Spirit of Bourbon is aged in oak, the Spirit of Tequila includes the vegetal flavor of agave and the Spirit of Gin presents its juniper beautifully alcohol-free. All are easily mixable in familiar cocktails. You might not be fooled, but you won’t be disappointed.

For more information, go to drinkfreespirits.com.

• Best Day Brewing, $12, six 12-ounce cans

Once upon a time, your non-alcoholic beer options were limited to Clausthaler and a smattering of offerings from a few mass-market beer producers. If your flavorless, watery, so-called “American-style pilsner” doesn’t have alcohol in it, then what is really the point? The taste? I doubt it. But don’t worry, better days are ahead.

Enter Sausalito’s Best Day Brewing, which makes a West Coast IPA (India pale ale), hazy IPA and Kolsch. What more could any teetotaling craft beer aficionado want? And these are not watery versions of them, nor are they some sort of hopped carbonated thing that barely relates to beer. These actually taste like beer, and not just beer, but really good beer. Best Day means that the only thing you will be sacrificing is the alcohol itself.

For more information, go to bestdaybrewing.com.

• House of Saka “de-alcoholized” wine infused with THC, $40 (750 milliliters) and $7 (187 milliliters)

Launched in 2019 by Mill Valley’s Tracey Mason and co-founder Cynthia Salarizadeh, the House of Saka takes familiar Napa wines — a buttery oaky chardonnay (Saka White), a Napa rosé of pinot noir (Saka Pink) and a premixed sparkling Mimosa (Spark) — and presents them like regular wine in recognizable packages but removes the alcohol and replaces it with something different — THC. Not CBD, but 5 milligrams of the deleterious stuff. The White and the Pink fit carefully into their respective flavor categories. The Spark is a carbonated de-alcoholized chardonnay that is infused with essences of tangerine and orange blossom. Lightly sparkling, lightly citrusy perfection. The 187-mililiter, beautifully packaged Spark will certainly add some fizz to your brunch, that’s for sure. The packaging and application also feel familiar.

And as far as taste goes, Mimosas, Napa chardonnay and rosé? Are you kidding me? Sometimes old dogs don’t want new tricks. Well, perhaps some new tricks, but without having to completely reinvent the wheel, and these products certainly do the trick.

For more information, go to houseofsaka.com.

Please always remember, that driving under the influence is always against the law, regardless of the substance.

Jeff Burkhart is the author of “Twenty Years Behind Bars: The Spirited Adventures of a Real Bartender, Vol. I and II,” the host of the Barfly Podcast on iTunes and an award-winning bartender at a local restaurant. Follow him at jeffburkhart.net and contact him at [email protected]