Non-alcoholic beer

If you spent your holiday season right, you’re reading this magazine with a hangover, fueled by seasonal excesses in eggnog, wine, whisky and other alcoholic indulgences. January is the month to clean out, to convince yourself you’re going to start running regularly this year, burn off some of the holiday fat and detox your thoroughly tox’d body. However, just because you’re having a dry January doesn’t mean it should be a dreary one — and there are some great drinks to fuel you through it. So most of this month’s drinks will be mocktails; fortunately the non-alcoholic scene is not what it was a few years ago.

There’s nothing quite like the third swig of a gin and tonic at the end of a long summer’s day. Or of an Old-Fashioned combating Old Man Winter’s chill. The bite on the tongue. The slow burn in the belly. The gradual easing of emotional and physical tension. Except for the hangovers. There’s nothing quite like those, either. As I — sigh — age, I’ve developed a relationship with alcohol that has become increasingly love-hate: I love it, it hates me. A slight intolerance to booze, German/Irish heritage notwithstanding, has always given me a rosy flush that on round three deepens to an unflattering scarlet that could be mistaken for theatrical rouge.