I split my time between San Francisco and Calistoga, working from home when I’m not on the road for a job that takes me from coast to coast and parts in between.

Let’s put this out there up front: I drink a lot. I love to cook, and nothing goes better with food than great wine. In Calistoga we are surrounded by wine–quite literally, we are–our small cottage is nestled among neighboring vineyards. And our friends are winemakers and growers and chefs and fellow wine lovers, and it’s not uncommon to while away an afternoon of conversation over a bottle of wine (or two). I also enjoy mixing craft cocktails–often with ingredients from our Calistoga garden–and our bar is always stocked. And I’m still quite fond of old school classics like a gin martini (not too dry) or a rye manhattan (“perfect” dry).

Perhaps it was the feeling that it was just time to give the liver a break . . . Or maybe it was the unavoidable reckoning that my daily cocktail + wine habit was the reason those fifteen pounds I gained after moving to California have settled in permanently . . . Whatever the impetus, I decided to go for a stretch of time without drinking alcohol. Thankfully I’m joined in my teetotaling by a dear friend who agreed to do the same–the support and encouragement is terrific.

But what to drink? Glass after glass of plain water is boring beyond measure. I try not to drink diet soda–too many chemicals. Or juice–too much sugar. Sparkling water with a drop or two of bitters is a solid option, but that gets boring too. The new crop of flavored sparkling waters–LaCroix, Waterloo, Spindrift–offers some tasty options, but the flavor profile is still quite simple. Iced tea? Meh, it’s ok at lunch, but not what I want to drink with dinner. So I decided to do some research, and discovered a whole world of sophisticated non-alcoholic cocktails that use a variety of ingredients in interesting ways. And did you know there is such a thing as de-alcoholized wine? There is. And although I’m not much of a beer drinker, I’m told there are some good non-alcoholic beers out there. Oh yeah, and you know recreational cannabis is legal here, right? So that opens up a whole other set of options–cannabis tea, tinctures, and infused beverages with which to craft a cocktail.

So that’s what Temporary Teetotaler is about. I’ll be sharing cocktail recipes, wine and beer reviews, cannabis beverage ideas, and other random musings about adult non-alcoholic drinks. Cheers!