Big Drop Milk Stout

Looks tempting, doesn’t it? And the good news is, Big Drop’s Chocolate Milk Stout, made in Bermondsey, is only 0.5% ABV!

Club Soda, a movement of people changing their drinking, has rated pubs and bars in the City of London and Hackney based on their range of low- and no-alcohol beers.

Over the past few years there has been a shift towards sustainable healthier lifestyles, and Club Soda is keen to show off that, next to water, an alcohol-free beer is the tastiest and healthiest option in the pub.

Today, one in four young people are teetotal, and 30% of people in the average venue won’t be drinking. With four pubs closing every day, according to CAMRA, there is a need for pubs to step up and tap into this new mindful drinker audience, says Club Soda.

One and a half million Londoners are actively trying to moderate their drinking in some way, and when combined with those on a diet, going sugar free, driving, or wanting to be more productive, the number of people not drinking, or drinking mindfully, goes up even further.

Londoners can find venues by visiting ClubSodaGuide.com, which has launched in East London and which lists nearly 200 pubs and bars in Hackney and the City, each marked out of five based on their range of low- and no-alcohol drinks. The start-up plans to go nationwide with the guide later in 2017.

The movement is urging mindful drinking customers to review how good these places really are by embarking on a Mindful Pub Crawl. Co-founders Laura Willoughby MBE and Jussi Tolvi said: “We created the Club Soda Guide to help everyone discover good places for mindful drinking.

“We are so convinced everyone can go to the pub and stay healthy that we are challenging Londoners to use the guide, do a mindful pub crawl and review the best places. We will even send Londoners a mindful pub crawl kit packed full of pub games and drink ideas to get them started.”

Anyone can run their own Mindful Pub Crawl (even using it to raise funds for Dry January), or join one of the Club Soda crawls to meet other like-minded mindful drinkers. The first crawl takes place on Thursday (January 5) from 7pm at the five-star rated Draft House on Plough Place, City of London.

Club Soda is asking people to also review the venues they visit on the Club Soda Guide online — it will be rewarding the top venues in February.