Mindful Drinking and Moderation in Midlife: How to Drink Less, On Your Terms
**A Spotify 'Rising Star' show** Practical moderation for the way you want to live.
Why can't I drink like I used to? How do I drink less without quitting completely? Should I go for low, no or light alcohol drinks? Why do alcohol-free drinks cost so much?
If you're in your 30s, 40s, 50s or beyond and asking these questions, this is your podcast.
Welcome to the essential show for midlife adults who want to drink less, on their own terms—without the pressure to quit completely, follow rigid rules, or label themselves as sober.
I'm Denise Hamilton-Mace, your mindful drinking mentor, writer and public speaker on all things low, no and light. Each week, I help stressed parents and busy midlife adults navigate their relationship with alcohol through practical approaches grounded in real-world experience and behaviour change strategy, not willpower or wellness culture
What you'll get:
Mindful Moderation Solo Episodes – Deep-dives answering the questions that matter to sophisticated drinkers who want to moderate smartly:
- How do I cut back when my partner still drinks at home?
- What really works: willpower vs. strategy?
- Why do premium alcohol-free drinks cost the same as full-strength versions?
- How do I navigate social situations when I'm the only one moderating?
This podcast is for you if:
- You're looking for practical advice that fits your demanding life, not another wellness overhaul
- You recognise that coasting with mid-strength drinks, zebra-striping, or bookending your evening with something non-alcoholic are all valid strategies
- You want better mornings without giving up celebrating life's special moments
This isn't about going completely dry or reinventing yourself. It's about keeping energy for what matters most: family, health, career, and living life on your own terms.
Join the moderation revolution happening in midlife – because while Gen Z gets the headlines, you're the one actually doing it.
Episodes
203 episodes
#54. Introducing Low No Drinker FAQ
I'm doubling down on the Low No Drinker Podcast in 2025!Starting next week, the show will be going to two episodes a week as I introduce the new Low No Drinker FAQ series of solo episodes where I will help you to find, understand...
#53. Creating A Household Legacy with Noughty AF Wines & Amanda Thomson
======SHOW QUOTES “And so I doubled down on seeing if I could create the world's first good non-alcoholic wine. And when I say good, it was my definition of good, which it was quite nuanced.”“I always want a democr...
#52. Mash Gang/Dionilife with Damian McKinney
======SHOW QUOTES “I’m not anti-alcohol. I’m a really big believer in inclusivity and I’m a real believer in moderation.” “I feel like I’m going from Blackberry to...
#51. Taking a Christmas Break
I'm breaking all the rules and taking a tiny break over Christmas/New Year, and I hope you are, too!
#50 Eisberg Wine: Dealcoholisation & Doubling Capacity
======SHOW QUOTES “If we wanted to introduce a new variety, we can’t just make a bit in a barrel. We need thousands of bottles just to see if it works. So it’s not a very easy category to […] play around with.”...
#49. San Francisco’s Ocean Beach Cafe
======SHOW SUMMARY Ocean Beach Café is San Francisco’s leading alcohol-free spot. In this episode, founder Joshua James takes me on the journey from unexpected inspiration found walking into a failing deli to creating a s...
#48. Wild Idol: Naturally Alcohol-Free, Premium, Sparkling Wine
======SHOW QUOTES “You cannot buy premiumisation, in my view.”“Out of the 95 sommeliers I think we tasted in the first six months, 85/86 are still working with us today.”======SHOW SUMMARY
#47. Psychotropic-Curious with High & Dry Founder Daniel Rowntree
SHOW QUOTES “I think we're in a second phase of moderation. The first phase was all about mimicking the taste of alcohol. Now it's about mimicking the whole experience of alcohol: depth of flavour, complexity, mouthfeel and, ...
#46. Double Dutch Mixers: Supporting Low/No Drinkers & Women in Hospitality
=============SHOW QUOTES “Our friends would bring like a really beautiful bottle, like a premium bottle of spirit, but we would make the mixes and soft drinks, and so our friends called us the Tonic Twins.”“I think we visi...
#45. 5 New Functional Spirits from Smiling Wolf
=============SHOW QUOTES “I wanted to create something which was for non-drinkers obviously. But also for drinkers. For those people like me who could no longer go out five, six nights a week all the time and drink alcohol. Who w...
#44. From Whole Foods To Harrods: Creating Diversity in Non-Alc Cocktails with Savyll
=============SHOW QUOTES “The bottle couldn't handle the carbonation in that neck, and we lost £20,000 pounds. I didn't have any product, but £20,000 pounds was gone!” “Availability and visibility are key in t...
#43. Inspiration & innovation with NON World Wine Alternatives
=============SHOW QUOTES “In the UK, it's 20 quid a bottle. I've always thought about it like some people get paid £20 quid an hour. So you know, if someone's going to give you an hour of their life, bloody, ma...
#42. Behind the Scenes with the Co-Founders of The World Alcohol-Free Awards
=============SHOW QUOTES“I get emails every week from people saying, oh, ‘I'd love to come and judge, I'd love to learn a bit more about these drinks’. Whilst we’re keen on educating and teaching people. they have to come to u...
#41. Session Gin: A 25% Gin for the Modern Drinker
SHOW QUOTES “We work with a 16th-generation distillery business. We said to them look, how low can we go before we start to lose the full taste experience? So the warm, the mouthfeel, the bite, everything else which you expect from a...
#40. What Low/No Drinkers Are Really Saying
SHOW QUOTES"Today we're doing things a bit differently.""Only 8% of the conversations were about using these drinks to help with sobriety or recovery."SHOW NOTESIn this episode, I take a look at a report from Commetric a...
#39. Bolle: The Only Double-Fermented Alcohol-Free Sparkling Wine in the World!
SHOW QUOTES: “If you don't like wine, you may not like our product; in fact, you probably won't like our product.“You know we're not trying to preach; we're not trying to tell people not to drink alcohol. I drink alcohol, eve...
#38. 80/20 Living with MoodyBrew Functional Adult Drinks
================SHOW QUOTES “If 80% of your lifestyle is healthy, you can accommodate a 20% indulgence, which may be your cream cakes, it may be a glass of wine, it may be whatever. It's unfortunately when you tip it over ...
#37. You Don't Need A Sad Story (Don't Do What I Did)
SHOW QUOTES “You do not need a sad story to decide that you want to start to look at your relationship with alcohol.” “It was the, you know, two or three days where I just felt subpar. I was operating at 60% capacity"
#36. Launching A Brand New Non-Alcoholic Cider with Chance Clean Cider
SHOW QUOTES“It's going to be cooler to buy a non-alcoholic drink than an alcoholic drink sooner rather than later.” “You know it's fascinating and I think that's why I cannot see this being anything other than the most important...
#35. Reimagining Classic Cocktails with Talonmore Scottish AF Spirit
QUOTES FROM THE SHOW“At every event we do, at least one person would be like “Non-alcoholic! What's the point?” Sometimes, they used to anger me. […] But I can understand where they're coming from. I mean, alcohol in Scotland is i...
#34. Making 6% Red Wine with Co-Founder Russell Lamb
Joining me this week is Russell Lamb, co-founder of 6PERCENT, a new mid-range wine company producing the first in its planned range of lighter wines, a 6% merlot-cabernet sauvignon blend with half the ABV but all of the flavour.Starting...
#33. GNISTA's 'Not' Spirits & 'Not' Red Wines with Erika Ollén
QUOTES FROM THE SHOW“I don't really care that wine is normally made from grapes or that a gin is made from, you know, distillates of xyz herbs.”“Do I think it's impossible? No, I don't think it's impossible, I think it tak...
#32. Exploring Everleaf: From Conservation to Cocktails with Founder Paul Mathew
QUOTES FROM THE SHOW“Whether you're drinking or not drinking, whether you're a vegetarian or a vegan or you like a steak, we should be accepting of you and welcoming and inclusive, and that's really for me why no and low exists.”<...
