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Hello , hello and welcome to the Low no Drinker

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podcast , the only twice weekly podcast

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helping you find , understand and enjoy

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the world of low , no and light drinks , drinkers

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and drinking . My name

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, as you'll know by now , is Denise Hamilton-Mace

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and I am the founder , editor and

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host of all things Low no

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Drinker . This week , I

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am going to bring you possibly a

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slightly shorter episode , because

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I've got a point to make that is really

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important to me and I want you to focus on what

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I'm going to share rather than all

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of the paraphernalia that can go around

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it . And it is the title

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of this episode , which is a

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riff on Fleetwood Mac's very

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famous song , and that is that

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you can drink your own way . I'm

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not going to sing . You can thank me later . I've been told

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I'm not to sing in public anymore . And

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the reason for this why am I doing this episode

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? It has come to light lately that

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, whilst the low , low

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and light market is growing at

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a humongous rate and I'm so excited

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excited by it , and I hope that you are excited too

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, I presume you are , that's why you're here

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that there is less

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enthusiasm for the growth of

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some big alcohol brands out

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there . I got some

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pushback recently on

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some news that I shared about Heineken's

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growth . They are now available in one

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in three pubs . Yes , I'm sharing the information again

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. So Heineken can now be found in

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one in three pubs across the entirety

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of the UK and they just

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hit 1000 draft

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taps in pubs in the

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UK and this is huge . You know , people

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are calling for alcohol free beers . They're

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calling for alcohol free beer on draft

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beers

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. They're calling for alcohol-free beer on draft . But

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obviously Heineken falls within that big alcohol umbrella . Now in Lono Nation

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I share news from all sides

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of the Lono and light drinking sphere

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. Why ? Because I

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serve you . I'm

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here to share news with drinkers

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about the drinks that they can use

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when they choose to live a life less intoxicated

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, whether that is for a night , a week

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, a month , a year or a lifetime . Not

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everybody wants to be

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sipping on 10-pound bottles

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of small batch yuzu-infused

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kombucha brewed on the forest

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moon of Endor with the fingers

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of celestial nuns . It's

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not a path that everybody

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wants to take . Some people like

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mainstream and

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you know what . That's okay . Personally

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, I don't care what you drink . I don't

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care if you drink alcohol-free beers

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, wine , spirits , ciders , if you

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prefer 0% or 0.5%

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, if you like mid-strength drinks

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, or you only like light alcohol , or

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you're completely teetotal . It's

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not relevant to me , and it shouldn't be relevant to

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anybody else , how you choose

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to drink . Big alcohol

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brands exist for a reason they

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offer accessibility , they offer affordability

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, they offer familiarity and they are

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. How many people find their way into

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the low-no and light drinking space ? The

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first alcohol-free beverage I

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ever had was a Peroni Zero , and

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look where it's led me to . I really

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want to make sure that

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everybody in low-no nation

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knows that choosing

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a well-known alcohol-free

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beer or whatever brand

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doesn't make you less of a mindful drinker . It doesn't make you less

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of a mindful drinker . It doesn't make you less qualified to be sober

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. Curious . It doesn't mean that you are not welcome to drink

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at our table . You have to find

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what's right for you . It's about being

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intentional with your drinks choices . It's about

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being mindful about how it's impacting you

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and making choices that serve the way that

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you want to live , not

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that make other people feel

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that you are cool or that

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you've got the trendiest choice or

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that your drink is on

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the new frontier of what's going on . It

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doesn't have to be . It just has to be something that

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you can hold in your hand and feel that

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you are having an adult drink at

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an adult occasion and you are feeling

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like you are part of the community

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, and that is what's most important

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. Yes , big alcohol does

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bring challenges to the low

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and low space and , as you'll know by

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now , I am a big advocate , a big fan

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of independent brands . Part of the reason

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why I have this platform is because I want to help

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smaller , independent brands

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reach and be found by drinkers

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like you who want to know what they've got to

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offer , who want to try something different

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. And yes , some big alcohol

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brands are terrible . Don't get me

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wrong . I'm not here waving the flag

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saying that Diageo

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and Heineken and all

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of those massive conglomerates are

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the way forward . Some of them are absolutely

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god awful , but the point is

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that you have to go and find that out for yourself

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. It's about what makes you feel good

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and about what you enjoy , because

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, just as some big alcohol brands are awful

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and can turn people away from the category let's

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not sugarcoat it here

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Some independent brands are awful as well

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. But that's just life , that's just business

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. There is no category of business

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out there where everything within that

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category is amazing , and

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there's definitely no category where every person

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thinks that everything in that

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category is amazing . That's why we

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have variety , that's why we have

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choice , so that you can go and

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find what works for you . There

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are some very big brands in this

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space that I don't enjoy , not

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because they're bad , but because they don't work for my

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palate , and that's okay . There

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are some big alcohol drinks that I don't enjoy

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because they don't work for my palate , but also

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the flip side is true , you

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know . So the only way I know

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this is because I've tried different things

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and I've tasted different things and I've given them

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a chance and I've experimented

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and I've mixed things and I've , you

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know , tried the beer with the lime and the beer without

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the lime , and I've tried the spirit

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with the soda and

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I've tried it with a lemonade . You know , you try different

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things until you find what you like

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, and some of that is going to be big alcohol

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, and that's okay , and some of it is going

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to be small , independent brands , and

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that's okay too . My only

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request to you is that you keep trying and

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that you give independent brands just

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as much of a chance and an

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opportunity to impress you as

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you do with big alcohol . Let's

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remember that most people who are

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jumping into this way of drinking are

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doing it via their supermarket

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. You're going out for your weekly shop . You've

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realised it actually is . You're

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feeling a little bit worse for wear , for whatever reason

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, or you've got some stuff coming up and you don't want

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to drink as much , and you're in the drinks aisle

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and you're picking up your full strength bottles

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or whatever it is that you're having . But you're also

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looking to see what they've got in the low no

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space . And yes , it is a

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crying shame and I've spoken about it many

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times before and I will do more episodes on it in

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the future that independent brands

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find it so difficult to get space on

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supermarket shelves . But actually those

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aren't the best places to find those drinks

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. There are smaller , more

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independent supply stores

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, places like Wise Bartender and

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Dry Drinker where you can go and find

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the drinks that you'd like to have , once

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you've realized that this is a space that you want to

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explore a little bit more . So

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it's okay if you don't

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care about botanical pairings and

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subtle oak finishes

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. It's not a competition and

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there are no medals for

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finding the most obscure

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drink with the most unique ingredient

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. The only medal is one that you give

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yourself for making a choice that serves

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you best , and that is what I

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want to support . And sometimes that

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will come in the form of me telling you about

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big alcohol brands

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. You know , at the end

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of every episode I ask founders what

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they like drinking most in this space

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and so far this year the most

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popular answer is Guinness Zero

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, and I've had founders of

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independent beers and wines

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and spirits who've told me that they actually

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would be taking a bottle of Heineken to

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a barbecue or a bottle of Peroni

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. And I've also had some who've told me

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about really niche

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brands from the middle

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of Copenhagen that I'd never

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heard of and that I can't find anywhere in the UK

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that they'll be taking , and both of those are

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perfectly valid options

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. It matters how

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you feel when you're drinking the drink . It

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matters that it supports your goals

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. It matters that you enjoy the flavours

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and that you feel comfortable

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with it and that it fits into the way

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that you want to live your life . I

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said I keep this one short because I really hope that

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this message gets to

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you if you need to hear it . You

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don't have to impress anybody

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with what's in your glass and

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you don't have to justify your choice

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to drink low and no to

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anyone , and that includes other

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mindful drinkers . Everybody

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is welcome to drink at our

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table . You can drink your

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own way and that is more than

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good enough . Okay , rant

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over . I'm going to leave it there for

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today . Let me know if this

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resonates with you or if

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, if you think , denise , please shut up and get back

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to teaching us some of the facts about low and low and light

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drinks . Um , I'd be really interested to hear

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your thoughts on this . You can

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find me in all the usual places . There are links

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everywhere . Um , find me on socials

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at low no drinker magazine or

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email me , denise . At low no drinker magazine

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. That's it

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for me Until next week . Cheers

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to a life less intoxicated

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.