Why we’re taking the low road, how we review our drinks
What we do and why
There are four of us. We love convivial drinking but we’re also of an age where we want to keep a watchful eye on units, health and weight. So, prompted by Dry January we started trying zero alcohol choices. That worked for a time and were genuinely surprised by the range of zero-ABV drinks out there. We discovered quite a few truly great beers and ciders and the spirits and botanicals-makers are creating some amazing alternatives. We didn’t find many palatable zero per cent wines though. So we also started casting around for wines that were lower in alcohol rather than alcohol free. After all, if you swap a standard wine at 13.5% ABV, for a 9% ABV version then you’re cutting your alcohol consumption by a third. We set out to discover how low we could go, while still enjoying our drinks. We found a huge difference between the zero- and lower-alcohol drinks that genuinely tasted good and compared well to the real thing and those that didn’t, so we started reviewing them. We then thought it would be useful to share these reviews to show the impressive choice available and separate the good from the terrible. And, should you like the sound of the drinks, we’ve added where to buy them. We then started reading up around the subject of drinking, so added articles to the site – anything from how alcohol-free drinks are made to great tips for making a lower alcohol cocktail.
Sometimes all four of us have tried the drinks we review, though with others it is just one person who’s done the tasting. We hope you enjoy the site, read our reviews and perhaps leave comments of your own. And if like us, you want to cut down on alcohol or even give it up entirely, we hope you find it fantastically useful.
Affiliate Marketing
We are hoping to recoup some of our costs by signing up with different vendors to get a commission any time someone kindly buys a product by clicking-through from our site. This is called affiliate marketing and typically pays a commission of about 3% to 5%. It does not change the price to you the buyer – the commission comes off the vendor’s profits. We will progressively sign up to new vendors and it may be hard for us to keep track of them all so it’s probably best to assume that any time you do click-through to buy a drink we will receive a commission. As well as receiving these commissions we are also hoping that some makers will give us free products to review. We will, of course, only post reviews that are entirely our own opinion – if any maker seeks to control our reviews we simply won’t cover them.
Our Opinions
All opinions on this site are simply that – our own thoughts. Of course, if we have made any factual errors or have been inadvertently offensive, please do let us know and we will correct that. If you simply disagree then please do post your own views – politely, please – and we will all be better informed for the addition of new points of view. All your reviews will be posted unless they are offensive or factually inaccurate.
Finally, makers if you would like us to review your drink, please get in touch with us at: contact@thelightdrinker.com
Disclaimer
All the information on this website has been published in good faith. We give no warranties for the completeness, reliability and accuracy of the information. Any action you take using the information you find here is taken at your own risk and we cannot be liable for any losses or damages which might arise from your use of this website and the information given here.
We have provided links to other websites for your convenience but we don’t have any control over the content or services provided by these websites and we take no responsibility for your use of these websites. If you choose to make any purchases from a linked website, we can take no responsibility for your choices nor for the performance of the operators of that website and any losses which you might incur as a result using the website.
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How We Rate Our Drinks
Star Rating
If you like this type of drink then at its price ….
…this is a great drink – full stop. It’s not a compromise and is well executed and is likely to be a real pleasure to drink for anyone (who normally likes this type of drink).
…this is a good drink – maybe slightly compromised to achieve its ABV and/or has other imperfections but most people will be happy to drink it (assuming they normally like this type of drink).
…this is an OK drink – somewhat compromised to achieve its ABV and/or imperfectly executed so probably some people would prefer not to drink it (even if they normally like this type of drink).
…this is a poor drink and a poor compromise. Probably not worth buying.
…this is horrible – we couldn’t finish the glass, let alone the bottle.

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