Dry January Gets Tastier
It’s not often that I go along to an event and find myself the subject of an interview, but that’s exactly what happened the other night at the Fishguard and Goodwick Rugby Club on West Street.
It’s Dry January of course. Well, it is if you are participating in such a concept. When I spoke to Marc Mordey he explained why so many people are joining in. “It seems a perfect time,” he told me, while he sipped his Lucky Saint alcohol-free lager and I enjoyed my equally non-alcoholic gin and tonic. “After the Xmas excesses many of us are looking at healthier options, and January seems the perfect time to reflect on our relationship with alcohol.”
The Rugby Club in Fishguard was happy to host the event, organised by Alcohol Change Cymru, with a free tasting of a wide range of non-alcoholic drinks including cider, beers, wines and spirits. All drinks were provided free by Alcohol Change’s partner Dry Drinker.
There was a range of folks there, including local student doctor Lawrence, on placement at Newport Surgery. He was trying the Leeds Brewery OPA and couldn’t really tell the difference between this and the usual alcoholic bottled lager. He told me that it was the calorific content of alcoholic drinks that concerned him most after a happy treat-filled Christmas. “ I think it’s important to get into a healthy habit in January,” he said. “And these non-alcoholic drinks give people more choices.”
Also among those assembled I found Kate enjoying her non-alcoholic rum and coke, and Jess a non-alcoholic lager. Both women were there with some young people from POINT, a local youth project, and one of their young people had come along to interview the partygoers.
Kai Lewis confidently put me at my ease with questions that made me think about my own relationship with alcohol, while Jess recorded the interview. Kai told me afterwards that he is a Year 8 student at Ysgol Bro Gwaun who enjoys science and maths and loves talking to people. Perhaps we have a budding young journalist in our midst.
The evening was the first of its kind to take place in Fishguard since the Non-Alcoholic Beer Festival of 2017 and the organisers hope it will regenerate some interest and get people thinking and talking about their relationship with alcohol.
For more information about alcohol awareness:
or contact Andrew-misell@alcoholchange.org.uk
029 20226746
All images in this article courtesy of Pixabay.
