The reduced alcohol dinner party

If there's one place people often drink far more than they should, it's at dinner parties with close friends. The supply of wine is cheap and seemingly limitless; you're in a safe environment, so no need to worry about losing your phone or someone stealing your bag; and all you have to trouble yourself with at the end of the night is calling a taxi. Or better yet, if you're the host, trotting off to bed.

With a glass that seems to stay magically full, you may find yourself unintentionally drinking way more than you would in a pub or restaurant.

So when it’s your turn to host the next at home get together why not save yourself and your guests from a potentially painful morning after, and try serving drinks with lower or no alcohol content, or simply fewer alcoholic drinks.

Make sure the water glasses stay full

Give your guests something else to sip on apart from wine, hopefully reducing the amount of alcohol they imbibe overall. Drinking water alongside alcohol will also keep you hydrated and lessen your hangover.

Don’t continually top up wine glasses

How many times in an hour does the host at the average dinner party refill the guests’ glasses without even asking? Let them pour their own wine when their glass is empty, so everyone knows how much they’re really drinking.

Have small wine glasses

There are generally three sizes of wine glass – 125ml, 175ml and 250ml. An average 125ml glass of wine would only be 1.5 units, but a 250ml glass would be three units.

Remember, the guidelines recommend that women should not regularly exceed 2-3 units daily and that men should not regularly exceed 3-4 units daily. So, just one large glass and you’re there…

Serve low alcohol or alcohol-free wine

The alcohol content in normal wine ranges from 11.5 to 14.5%; 125ml glass would be around 1.5 units. However, lower alcohol and no alcohol wines are readily available – have a look next time you go to the supermarket. Lower alcohol wine has fewer calories too; a 125ml glass of normal wine contains around 100 calories but a 10% version only has about 75. 125ml of alcohol-free wine has just 40 calories.

Make sure there's plenty mixers to make spritzers

Have soda water and lemonade on hand to mix with white wine to make spritzers. If you use half a small glass of wine, around 60ml, there’ll be less than a unit in each glass. Encourage your guests to try something new too. A calimocho is made by diluting red wine with coke. It's always been a popular drink in Spain, and they're tastier and more refreshing than you might think. Give one a try!

Serve cocktails and have a punch bowl

It’s easy to cut down, or indeed cut out, the alcohol in any recipe. Ben Reed, one of London’s best known cocktail mixologists, gave us these recipes for reduced / no booze cocktails:

Bloody Mary

25ml vodka (leave out to make a Virgin Mary)
125ml tomato juice
2 grinds of black pepper
2 dashes of Worcestershire sauce
1-2 dashes of Tabasco sauce (according to taste)
Juice of half a lemon
Half a celery stick

Put all the ingredients into a cocktail shaker, cover, and gently rock back and forth to mix them together. Pour and garnish with the celery stick.

Mojito

25ml white or golden rum (optional)
2 dashes of sugar syrup or a tablespoon of sugar
1 dash of fresh lime juice
1 dash of raspberry or strawberry puree
Soda water
5 sprigs of mint

Put four of the sprigs of mint into a tall glass and, using a spoon, lightly crush them to release their flavour. Add the sugar and lime juice and stir. Fill the glass with ice. Then add the shot of rum, fill the glass to the top with soda water and stir again. Garnish with the last sprig of mint.

Punch (serves 4)

100ml rum (optional)
100ml pineapple juice
100ml passion fruit juice
25ml strawberry puree (optional)
Juice of half a lime
5 dashes of Angostura bitters
30ml sugar
50ml lychee juice or coconut milk

“They’re all delicious drinks, and only have around one unit of alcohol each, which is significantly less than your average cocktail,” said Ben. “I’m sure they would go down well at any party.”

Make perfect non-alcoholic cocktails

Watch our amazing bar tender whip up delicious and refreshing non- alcoholic cocktails in our series of 'mocktail' videos. 

Page last updated by

Matthew Bateman, 10 May 2010.

Page checked on

17 Sep 2008