As told by Denise Hamilton-Mace, editor of Low No Drinker Magazine
Choosing a life less intoxicated is no mean feat. It requires a level of self-awareness that most people are not comfortable to attain and maintain. It requires self-control, the ability to be honest with yourself, dedication to self-improvement and, most of all, it requires a decent bloody selection of low-and-no-alcohol drinks to choose from on a night out (or a night in).
Being sober/curious in an alcohol-forward world can be lonely. It’s hard to stay motivated and to find the strength to stick to your convictions when almost everything and everyone around you is telling you to take the blue pill.
That is why finding the right path for your journey is so important to your success in reaching your goals, no matter what they look like. Whether to moderate, cut back or cut out alcohol completely is a choice that only you can make. But making that choice more achievable, more sustainable, less lonely and above all more fun – that is where Low No Drinker Magazine comes in.
An origin story.
It took me a long time to decide to publish this magazine, longer than I realised. I meet people now who I spoke to over a year ago, and they tell me how pleased they are that I finally managed to do it after mentioning it all that time ago. What’s weird is that I don’t recall telling anyone about the idea for LNDM until just a few months before I launched it! It seems that I was planting ideas in my own mind without even realising it. Maybe it was meant to be.
And once I did start, boy-oh-boy did things move quickly!
It all began early one morning with a simple thought while lying awake waiting for my two tiny terrors to attack the day with their usual gusto. “Would anyone even care about a magazine dedicated to low-and-no-alcohol drinks?”
I have a 24-year background in hospitality. For over two decades, my job was to get people drunk and in all that time, I had seen maybe two or three low/no bottles come across my bars where they would sit unloved and untouched for months on end, so it seemed almost unthinkable to me that anyone would want to read this magazine.
But in the time since losing my job to COVID redundancy, I have found two things to be self-evident:
1 – I was drinking a hell of a lot less than I used to.
2 – I was not the only one.
Everyone I spoke to, from my bestie to the mums on the school run, seemed to be telling me that they just didn’t have the stomach (or the head, or the wallet) for the booze anymore. I took it as a sign. I created a survey and sent it out into the universe (i.e. Instagram) to get some proper answers. What came back was all the confirmation I needed to know that not only was a magazine about low/no alcohol living wanted by the people – it was needed!
That was in February of 2023 and in April, I launched the first-ever issue of Low No Drinker Magazine. It’s been a wild ride. Every day spent creating this magazine is a day that I learn something new about the world of low/no living; and it is just that, an entire world of options to explore.
And now
While there aren’t many periodicals out there dedicated to those who want to drink less, I knew that there was one distinction that I wanted to make to imbue LNDM with the power to truly help, and that was to ensure that no one ever felt unwelcome in its pages. Whether you are sober curious or sober serious, whether you’re just thinking of cutting back for the first time or you live a life of total abstinence, Low No Drinker Magazine is a judgement-free zone full of resources for the times when you choose to live a life less intoxicated, and everyone is welcome to drink at our table.
What makes us different? The focus of the magazine really is on the drinks. In every issue, we bring you the best and the brightest as well as the new and the nuanced in low-and-no-alcohol beverages and the lifestyles they support.
The times they are a-changin’, slowly but surely, and sober curious drinkers need a voice, a platform, and a service that is dedicated to them.
Low No Drinker Magazine is published bi-monthly and available to read online or in print. In every issue, we bring you the latest news, reviews and interviews from the people, places and brands leading the low-and-no-alcohol revolution.
Issue 7 is out on March 30th and will be our first birthday issue. NoLo subscribers/readers can get 20% off the first two issues of any subscription type (digital, print, UK, and around the world) using code NOLO20 at checkout.
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