August Newsletter: Visit AF Distillery with me + Episcopalians and Wine

Aug 9

Americans are drinking as much alcohol now as the Civil War days but just a bit less than the absolute peak of the 80s and 90s. Depending on your age, maybe like me you’re saying, wow, these were very formative years for me, growing up in New Orleans, encompassing middle and high-school, college, early professional life, dating and marriage, and that was right in the absolute peak of drinking?!? Eek, anyone else remember 3-for-1 Ladies Nights?! I haven't thought about 3-for-1 Ladies Nights in a long time and did you know that's not even legal anymore in most states? I am endlessly fascinated by these topics including this excellent article from The Hill with demographics and drinking trends over the last decades. A sample fun-fact that turns out to be not fun at all: When spirits producers were getting creamed in sales by the beer guys, the spirits industry decided to end its self-imposed moratorium on advertising on TV. In 2001 there were 2,000 ads on TV for spirits. Just 8 years later, there were 63,000!!! As a result, spirits sales soared! And the best place to find new customers was….women, who formerly didn’t drink much in the way of spirits. It used to be that men outdrank women 3-to-1 in drinking and binging but we've closed the gap and achieved near parity. So sadly, what has also soared is alcohol-related disease and death among women. We don’t want to forget that advertising works on us precisely because we think it doesn’t!

How Many Episcopalians Does It Take To Change A Lightbulb?

Five! One to call an electrician, one to make the cocktails, and three to form a committee to complain about how they liked the old light better! There are lots of versions of the joke! But they ALL contain cocktails! I've learned that most of us feel that we have a reason our particular path to sobriety was uniquely challenging (I'm from New Orleans, I'm from the Midwest beer culture, I'm in sales, I'm a lawyer, I'm an ex-pat living abroad, I'm a first-responder, on and on. But perhaps you didn't expect to hear that from a priest!!!) Yet Episcopal priest Erin Jean Warde from Texas shares how hard the break-up was in her book, Sober Spirituality: The Joy Of A Mindful Relationship With Alcohol. I'm not going to rave about the book but I got a nugget or two, chiefly that by creating a culture of “we’re cooler than those other churches because we drink,” the so-called progressive churches aren't as inclusive as they intend to be. I was raised in the Episcopal Church and definitely felt this culture (my parents always had the new rectors over for drinks. I think it was a test of some kind!) When our daughter was a middle-schooler, our rector told all us parents that the best way we could co-create "the village" to nurture our children was to party together. And then I participated and added to the culture by hosting an annual wine event as a church fundraiser. Finally, last year, I had a new experience…creating and leading a 6-session, alcohol-free Lent course at Trinity Cathedral in Portland. Those that want to check out this book will notice that the author was definitely influenced by Annie Grace.

Visit America's First AF Distillery With Me
For readers in the Portland area, I’ve organized a meet-up at Wilderton, the nation’s first-ever AF distillery and tasting room. It’s located in the recreational paradise known as Hood River, OR, just across the Columbia River from where I spend the summer in White Salmon, WA. On Sunday, August 27th, we’ll get a free, private tour (and fun science lesson) of the distillery plus a tasting of three spirits, both neat and with mixers. Email me to grab one of the last spots or to get on the waitlist. Wilderton sits right in a dynamic hub of coffee roasters, microbreweries, food carts and world class wind sports. No stigma here! They are attracting people who love flavor, craft beverages, wellness and recreation!

HOT TIP: do you have a favorite NA aperatif, like Wilderton's Bittersweet, For Bitter For Worse, Ghia, or Pathfinder? Try pouring it over ice-cream. Or ice cream and soda water to turn it into a float. Or make a dee-lish coffee cocktail by combining cold brew with the aperatif and either tonic or soda water! Enjoy!!

Featuring Wilderton, Joyus, For Bitter For Worse, and others) this was the set-up from a very fun talk/tasting I did this spring at my friend's tasting room in Portland (she produces amazing mylks). I spoke about the extraordinary growth in the NA Beverage Movement and how and why the Pacific NW is a leader in the space, as well as how much women are at the forefront of it.

Following, Reading, Liking

The New York Times Style Magazine curated their list of How To Create The Perfect Non-Alcoholic Home Bar, including some of my favorite bitter aperitifs, plus beautiful (expensive) glassware and decanters, linen cocktail napkins, garnishes etc. We could add to this list silicone trays for making fun-shaped ice, or a retro ice-crushing machine! Or hunt for cool trays, glasses, decanters and ice buckets at vintage stores.

Liquor.com posted a helpful piece about how to use some of the more popular NA spirits when making drinks at home.

Yes, winemakers are looking to NA!! The change-making founders of Oregon’s Division Wine Company are examples of how the wine industry will (need to) evolve. Kate and Thomas learned the ancient art of enology at Kate’s family domaine in the Loire Valley in France, yet they believe non-alcoholic will allow for inclusivity and shape the future of drinking so they partnered with the NA beverage company called Proxies to create a beverage that blends juices, teas, verjus and herbs and is meant to pair with a meal. You can find it here. Oh, and I just noticed that Proxies is doing a fun summer promo with the cooler company, Yeti!! Partnerships like that are just another sign of the significance of the NA movement.

Tales of the Cocktail, created and hosted in my hometown of New Orleans, is one of the best and most popular drinks-industry events of the year. A reporter for InsideHook, a newsletter aimed at 30- and 40-something year old men, declared his number-one take-away from this year’s Tales of the Cocktail event is that…Non-Alcoholic Drinks Are Here To Stay!!

Known for an outrageous amount of day-drinking with former co-host Kathy Lee Gifford, Hoda Kotb tries to get clarity on how much is too much in this NBC piece by their chief medical correspondent with new data on blood pressure risks from alcohol. Fun fact: Hoda was my close neighbor - we lived in the same Warehouse District apartment building back when she worked at WWL in New Orleans! In further links to New Orleans…it was a Tulane University researcher who co-authored this study that found that even one beer a day is enough to raise blood pressure. (Apparently 48% of Americans have high blood-pressure but only 1 in 3 knows).

I remember the first time I discovered an NA beverage in a hotel mini-bar. Here’s an article about how hotels are expanding their offerings for the sober-curious.

And here’s why people get drunker quicker on airplanes.

Actor Zach Braff (Garden State, Scrubs) shares with podcaster/author Dan Harris why he decided to take a break from alcohol and how he's feeling at the 3 months mark. They also have a great conversation about grief, following several personal losses for Braff in the last few years.

And now....the Listen Of The Month: I could barely contain my joy while listening to this very inspirational podcast about joy on Ten Percent Happier with guest Ingrid Fettel Lee, author of Joyful: The Surprising Power Of Ordinary Things To Create Extraordinary Happiness. I listened and took notes while savoring the expansive views (pictured below) of the majestic Columbia River Gorge, from my window seat in the observation car of the Amtrak train from Portland to small-town Bingen, WA!

More on summer joys in the next newsletter!

xoxo

Like this newsletter? Please forward to a friend! Merci!!

From my hometown of New Orleans to the vineyards of Oregon, alcohol figured centrally in my life until I just couldn't deny any longer my body's protests and several years of feeling trapped and powerless. In early 2019, I was introduced to Annie Grace’s Alcohol Experiment program and through it, a freedom, energy, and joy I had forgotten. Wanting to help others do the same, I became a certified mindful drinking/sobriety coach.

I invite you to visit my site and schedule a free chat. If you are just curious, that is a perfect first step.

Martha Wright