Top Five Non-Alcoholic Summer Drinks

Summer is a great time to relax outside with a long, cool drink and while alcohol can be an option if you don't need to drive, it can leave you dehydrated and tired. We have come up with our top five alcohol free favourites for those afternoons around the BBQ with friends.

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Pink lemonade - A traditional favourite.

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1 unwaxed lime (chopped)
4 unwaxed lemons (chopped)
1 cup fresh raspberries
200g golden caster sugar
1 pint spring water
2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger root

Add your fruit, ginger and a handful of ice cubes to the blender with 500ml of the water and 100g of the sugar, blitz this mixture and strain the juice into a jug. Return the fruit and ginger pulp to the blender with the rest of your sugar and water and repeat the process this time discarding the pulp. Serve with more ice cubes and a sprig of fresh mint.

Apple and honey iced tea - Refreshing and tasty.

500ml apple juice
500ml boiling water
4 x teabags of choice
3 tablespoons of honey

Place your teabags into a jug, add the boiling water land leave to brew for five minutes.
Remove the teabags and add the honey, stirring until completely dissolved. Add the apple juice and chill. Serve with lots of ice.

Sparkling spring water with cordial of choice

Easy, inexpensive, 'lo-cal', refreshing and any flavour you choose! Add sparkling water and lots of ice to your favourite cordial for the best thing since soda streams were invented!

Alcohol free Pina Colada

Pina Colada is a great taste for summer and the kids can enjoy this one too. Combine the ingredients below with ice cubes and blend for a jug of heaven:

The juice of 2 limes
The flesh of half a fresh pineapple
400ml of pineapple juice
200ml of coconut milk

Black Forest milkshake - Naughty but nice!

1 litre milk
1 cup maraschino cherries
4 scoops chocolate ice cream
2 x tablespoons of chocolate sauce
Whipping cream, cherry and cocoa powder to serve

Blend the ingredients to a smooth consistency and top with whipped cream, a sprinkling of cocoa powder and a cherry. Yum!

Top Five Non-Alcoholic Summer Drinks

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High Calorie Alcoholic Cocktails - Diet Busting Drinks to Avoid

If you enjoy your mixed drinks but are on a diet, finding a tasty low calorie alcoholic drink can be difficult. Many of the most popular mixed drink recipes are high calorie recipes, and it doesn't take many to bust a diet wide open. Many mixed cocktails are high in both calories and sugar, making them a poor choice for anybody who is watching the waistline.

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Losing that weight might be important, but plenty of people want to have the diet and still enjoy a couple of great drinks to reward themselves on the weekend. Keeping alcohol and the diet is as much about avoiding the unhealthy high calorie mixed drinks as it is about finding the proper low calorie substitutes.

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There are many unhealthy mixed cocktails, but there are several that are the worst offenders. The thing to look for is both calories and sugars. While there is no unbreakable rule of thumb as far as determining the good drinks from the not so good, there are several things to look out for.

What to Watch for:
1. Drinks heavy in sugary colas or sugary juice. These pack on the sugars and the calories.
2. Any frozen/creamy mixed drinks (all of these tend to be extremely heavy in both calories and sugars)
3. Drinks with high calorie mixers (think anything mixed with eggnog)
4. Alcohol high in calories and sugar (anything with Creme de Menthe, for example, is going to be packed)

Each drink needs to be considered separately, as it's not uncommon to have two related drinks with vastly different calorie counts. For example, in the "martini" family you have the appletini, which is a very popular choice for a lower calorie alcoholic mixed drink, but a chocolatini is actually one of the absolute worst drinks out there as far as calories and sugars. Some versions of the chocolatini are bursting at the seams around the 500 calorie mark for just one.

A Long Island Iced Tea is loaded in the same way because of the sheer amount of higher calorie shots mixed into the drink. For large drinks like that, the alcohol calories really add up. Anything added to eggnog, like the holiday favorite of rum & eggnog, is a diet buster, as are tropical drinks like the famous pina coladas.

There are plenty of options for people who want a tasty alcoholic cocktail without busting a diet wide open, but the listed drinks from the articles are some of the mixed drinks that you will want to avoid.

High Calorie Alcoholic Cocktails - Diet Busting Drinks to Avoid

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Low-Carb Alcoholic Drinks Uncovered

How to find an enjoyable, low-carb alcoholic drink is something on the minds of many. The recent popularity of low-carb diets put a new focus on carbohydrates in foods. In an effort to capitalize on this situation, dozens of books have been published touting everything from easy, low carb-recipes to how to find a good low-carb friend and live the low-carb lifestyle.

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One area that causes concern for low-carb dieters is pressure and influences arising from social situations. A big part of any social occasion - and many other occasions - for many people is alcoholic beverages.

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Do alcoholic drinks have many carbs? What sort of drinks should I avoid? Should I abandon drinking altogether? Is there such a thing as a low-carb alcoholic drink?

Fortunately, little sacrifice must be made for the sake of counting carbohydrates. There are enough options and alternatives to allow you to enjoy good beer and other alcoholic beverages. Of course, as with anything else, you just need to make smart choices that fit into your particular low-carb diet and lifestyle. This article should serve as a general guide with basic information about low-carb alcoholic drinks.

Folks who want to enjoy a nice, cold brew and still maintain a healthy diet have a good friend: low-carb beer. Despite what you might guess from witnessing certain new product launches and advertising campaigns, low-carb beer is nothing new. In fact, all light beers are low-carb; just recently have brewers started so vigorously publicizing that fact.

Many people, even those on weight-loss and low-carb diets, enjoy beer regularly. Beer, like most other beverages, contains no fat. Light beer, in particular, is low in calories and carbohydrates. New low-carb beers, capitalizing on the terminology of the day, have been put to market in response to the new dieting trend, and often contain even less carbohydrates than light beer.

When it comes to dieting and weight loss, the "beer belly" is often mentioned, but no such thing actually exists. Consuming too many calories and not exercising enough will cause excess fat to develop in any part of the body, determined mainly by gender and genetics; for the most part, beer is irrelevant.

Most doctors agree the keys to weight loss are moderate food and beverage intake and regular exercise. Whether you're on a low-carb, low-fat, low-calorie or some other type of diet, beer - especially low-carb beer - can be part of a healthy adult lifestyle.

Beyond beer, there are many more options for enjoyable low-carb alcoholic drinks. Wine is very low in carbohydrates; red wine runs at about two grams, and white wine has a little less than one gram. Straight alcohols are even better. Gin, vodka, brandy, whiskey, tequila, rum, bourbon - all of your favorites! - have no carbs.

Mixed drinks - drinks that contain alcohol and a "mixer" such as soda or juice - are where you'll find some carbs, though. The exact number, of course, will vary depending on what you mix the alcohol with. You should always use diet soda, and try your best to find low-carb alternatives to fruit juices.

Many liqueurs have relatively high amounts of carbohydrates, and should be consumed sparingly if you're watching your carb intake. Irish cream, amaretto, triple sec, cointreau and the like should be enjoyed at a minimum. The carb counts vary greatly. Bailey's Irish cream, for example, has about six grams of carbs; amaretto, one of the highest, has about 17.

As with anything else related to dieting, moderation and common sense are your best friends. Amaretto isn't the devil. It just has a lot of carbs, so make sure you aren't suddenly and accidentally carb-loading after two amaretto sours. You can still enjoy plenty low-carb alcoholic drinks - whether it be a low-carb beer, a nice white wine or a whiskey-diet - without sacrificing your low-carb diet.

Low-Carb Alcoholic Drinks Uncovered

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The Best Healthy Alcoholic Drinks

A lot of people think that in order to get healthy, they need to give up all alcohol. Fortunately, this is not the case. Here's a guide to healthy alcoholic drinks that will allow you to celebrate a little without getting a beer belly in the process.

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The Health Benefits of Alcohol

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When consumed in moderation, alcohol has more positive long-term health implications than negative ones. It increases insulin sensitivity, reduces your chance of getting diabetes, and increases HDL (good) cholesterol.

However, the risks of drinking too much are massive, from car accidents to liver damage. So keep it classy, and stick with just a drink or two every night.

Sugar - Your Worst Drinking Buddy

But just because you're drinking in moderation doesn't mean you're being healthy. Most popular drinks are so loaded with sugar to drown out the alcohol taste that you might as well be drinking pancake syrup. Excess sugar in the diet can lead to obesity, diabetes, and even tooth decay. Not good. The key characteristic of all healthy alcoholic drinks is that they contain little to no sugar.

The Best of the Best

So if the best drinks are those that aren't full of sugary mixers, it stands to reason that the healthiest drinks are the "straight" ones. Dry wines are a great bet. Beer can be problematic - they don't call it a beer gut for nothing! It's best to stick with light beers with lower carb counts.

If you enjoy mixed drinks and cocktails, you have a wide variety of things to mix with. However, mixers are often problematic due to their high sugar content. The best solution is to use soda water and a squeeze of lime. But many mixers also come in diet versions, with lower sugars and calories. Stick with diet tonic and sodas when you can. Here's a list of drinks that are the best bets:

Dry champagne (look for wines labeled "brut") Dry white wine (sauvignon blanc, chardonnay) Dry red wine (syrah, pinot noir, cabernet sauvignon) Light beer (such as Amstel Light)

As you can see, living a healthy lifestyle doesn't need to mean giving up on happy hour with your friends. Just stick with these healthy alcoholic drinks and don't make a fool of yourself. Cheers!

The Best Healthy Alcoholic Drinks

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Alcoholic Drinks

In the West, alcoholic beverages are never far away from the scene at festive times, but do we always know how to get the most from these costly luxuries? Too many people these days just think its a question of 'getting as much down as possible in as little time as possible'. This is the wrong attitude.

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After all, most people realize that a good meal does not consist of eating as many chips as possible in fifteen minutes, so why should that theory not apply to having a drink too? You will get far more enjoyment from a bottle of wine, if you spend an extra dollar on it and drink it slowly with a friend and some appropriate food than if you swill down a cheap bottle of plonk on your own. It makes obvious sense, but not everyone sees it.

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So, with that idea in mind, I have put together a few tips on how to get more enjoyment from your alcoholic drinks, if you are old enough and of that turn of mind.

Gin and Vodka - if these white spirits are your favourite tipple, always keep the bottle in the fridge, not the drinks cabinet. Keep the mixers in the fridge too. That way the ice will last longer and you will not be tempted to have to swig it down before the ice melts. If you are having friends around, go one step further and put the bottle in the freezer. It will not go solid. You can even cut the top off a plastic cola bottle, put the bottle of gin or vodka in that, fill it with water and then freeze it. Take off the plastic bottle and you have an attractive "collar of ice" around your bottle.

The Last Tot - five minutes or so after finishing a bottle of spirits, tip it out one more time and the bottle that you thought was empty will provide one more tot of contents. It is not a lot, but it is a pleasant free surprise. The same works for many alcohol based products including underarm roll-on and scent.

White Wine - white wines taste best when they have been gently chilled over a protracted period, but if you get taken by surprise visitors, put the bottle of wine in a jug of ice and cold water. Try not to have to put it in the deep freeze, it is too severe, but if you have to, then ten minutes is all that it takes.

Port - it is always better to decant port and older, heavier red wines, because of the sediment that may be in the bottom of the bottle, which tastes awful and because it aids the aeration of the wine. However, it is not always easy to see when the lees are coming. The manuals say to use a candle, but they were written a hundred years ago. The strong beam from a torch is far better. Try using a Durabeam because its rotatable head allows it to be directed more precisely.

Decanters - sometimes the stopper becomes stuck fast. Tap it with another glass item and it should come loose. If not, run the neck of the decanter under hot water for a few seconds and it will come out.

Labels - if you keep your wine in a damp place where the labels are likely to rot or fall off, spray them with hair lacquer beforehand.

Alcoholic Drinks

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Why People Consume Alcoholic Drinks

Since the very ancient days people used to consume alcoholic drinks and alcohol has played a major role in society and religion. History tells us alcoholic beverages have been widely used as medicines, antiseptics and analgesics as well as relaxing stuff.

alcoholic ginger beer

According to the free Internet encyclopedia:

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"An alcoholic beverage is a drink containing ethanol. Ethanol is a drug, and depressant, and even though alcohol is a legal drug in most parts of the world, many societies regulate or restrict the sale and use of it."

Consumption of alcoholic drinks may be a necessity for cold region countries, but for hot region countries it is not at all a must. So, why do people consume alcoholic drinks?

Most of the people drink for the sake of drinking only, they do not have any proper reason for doing this. Perhaps you may be also one of them.
People generally consume alcoholic drinks because they think that after drinking they feel themselves out of their frustration and bad feelings. A lot of people think that they feel themselves relaxed after consumption of alcoholic drinks. So they drink just to relax, forget about their tedious and hard work for a while. A number of guys have compassion that alcoholic drinks have a quality to make them feel to hangout with their friends, so they drink this purpose. For some people consider drinks as funny and just for fun they consume drinks. There are many who feel themselves as witty and more attractive. Some of our friends have an idea that they can not survive without drinks. A number of people use to drink to maintain their social status.

But alcoholic drinks, like any other thing, in excess are bad and make the people addicted.

Almost the people really don't know why they drink. It is noteworthy that drinking never stops you feeling sad, it always makes things look worse. Drinking is good if you're in a good mood, bad if not.

Whichever may be the reason, people start drinking and later they find they are addicted and find themselves unable to stop drinking. Alcoholic drinks always push people deeper and deeper into the dark corners of the life.

Why People Consume Alcoholic Drinks

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Different Alcoholic Drinks - Beer

Hello. Today I'm going to be starting a new article series. It is going to be about different types of alcoholic beverages. Starting with common drinks such as beer, and then moving to more hard liquors. I think this will be interesting to research, and hopefully interesting to read. This article is going to be about Beer.

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Beer is the oldest and most common alcoholic beverage. It's also the worlds third most popular drink - behind water and tea. Recent archeological findings suggest that the first beer may have been brewed as early as 9000 BC. Beer was also mentioned in the Code of Hammurabi, and Egyptians even had a God of beer.

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The ingredients of beer are pretty simple. Beer consists of hops, malted barley, water, and yeast. Occasionally, corn or rice replaces barley. However, this doesn't happen often. Beer mainly consists of water, with the other ingredients combining to make the hoppy, alcoholic flavor that beer is known for.

To make beer, you need to use the process of fermentation. Usually, this process happens in special places called breweries. Brewing involves combining hops with grains or barley. This is made into a sugary substance, which then goes through fermentation. The end product of fermentation is beer. To create the sugary liquid, you combine hot water and malted barley. This is known as mashing. This is where the starches are turned into sugars. The end product is a sugary liquid called Wort. The wort is then put into a large kettle where it is boiled, usually for an hour. It is boiled so that all the water will evaporate, leaving the sugary substance behind. The wort is cooled, and combined with yeast. This is where the wort becomes beer. The fermentation process takes anywhere from one week to one month, depending on the type of beer. The beer is then bottled, and is ready for consumption.

The alcohol percentage of beer is usually around three percent. There are also light versions of certain beers that have lower alcohol percentage or less calories. Many people use beer at social events, and parties. When people want to get smashed, they don't drink beer, but it's good if you want a buzz.

This concludes my first article on types of alcohol. I hope you enjoyed reading it. There are thousands of alcoholic beverages, so I'm not going to cover all of them. However, I will try to go over all the well known ones. Thanks for reading!

Different Alcoholic Drinks - Beer

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