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Afterward, he’d hoist me on his shoulders, this giant, invincible man. I still have flashes of us wrestling on the floor, roughhousing. My father is a diagnosed alcoholic and is in recovery. I thought about drinking long before I took a single sip. For those of us in the gray areas, mindful drinking might be just what we need. There are plenty of people who don’t drink for a variety of reasons, and many of us who question our relationship with alcohol might not need to join a group in a church basement or phone a friend when we’re out on the town. But not everyone conforms to that model and, well, I want to be well, wellness aside. It also overlaps with the wellness industry that is a $4.2 trillion market worldwide. The movement may be controversial, in that it differs from the most widely accepted model of sobriety. “I don’t see changing your drinking as linear, I don’t see it as binary,” says Willoughby. Willoughby describes the term mindful drinking in the way the LGBTQ movement uses “queer”: as an umbrella term for a range of sexual orientations and gender identities. Willoughby doesn’t drink, but Jussi Tolvi, with whom she co-founded Club Soda in the UK, is a moderate mindful drinker. “They either don’t drink for religious reasons, they’re not drinking because they’re pregnant, they’re cutting down, they never drank very much, they’ve never drunk, … any of those things.”

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“Mindful drinking is a nice catchall term for anyone who might be thinking about their drinking in some way,” argues Laura Willoughby, co-author of How to Be a Mindful Drinker: Cut Down, Stop for a Bit, or Quit. This is spawning both a philosophical movement whose adherents have holidays (Dry January and Sober October) and is creating an industry through sober influencers nonalcoholic beer, wine, and “spirits” dry bars dry events and sophisticated cocktails without alcohol. We’re steeped in discussions of sober curiosity, soberishness, and hip sobriety, terminology that all spears the same fish: Drink less. These days, my approach may actually be in vogue. And, when I indulge, it’s still with the guardrails on. Lately, I’m more than content with a few fingers of bourbon followed by a drink without alcohol. I don’t think everything we do has to be “good for you.” Neither should everything we do lead us down a fiery path of ruination. Though I used to joke that without it I wouldn’t have a job, friends, or a hobby, I now teetotal most of the week and drink cocktails, whiskey, and wine infrequently.Įverything about that goes against the way I make my living as a spirits and cocktail expert, author, and bar owner. Alcohol isn’t really all that good for you.