Despite all the encouragement we get to dine solo in restaurants, drinking on our own, particularly at home, still has a stigma. Obviously there are situations where one glass leads to two and – oops – the best part of a bottle, but speaking as someone who can stop at one drink (or a single chocolate, come to that), I resent being made to feel bad about it. Unless you’re dependent on alcohol – and I appreciate that a not insignificant number of people are, and I am not underestimating the problem for them and others around them – it’s more a question of what type of drink to have in the house if you live on your own, rather than whether to have any at all.
Beer and cider are not too much of a problem – nowadays, cans make solo drinking easy – whether or not they contain alcohol. At the Mindful Drinking Festival in London in January, I was blown away by the new Brewdog AF Hazy, not least because you really don’t miss the booze. Ditto the Hawke’s Designated Cider (nice play on words) in which Brewdog also has a hand.
When it comes to wine, I confess that I don’t love wine boxes, still less so single-portion bottles because the choice of contents is so limited. And although I love champagne, quarter- and half-bottles are disproportionately expensive.
Why buy a half-bottle of Bollinger (currently on sale for £23.99 at Waitrose) when you can pay less than half as much for a whole bottle of Lidl’s perfectly decent Comte de Senneval (£11.49, 12.5%)?
Apart, that is, from having rather more than you need – although a champagne stopper will keep it fresh for a good two or three days.
Half-bottles are, however, a good way to enjoy more expensive wines without having to shell out and possibly waste a full-size bottle – though remember, when you’re buying older vintages, that they do age faster in smaller bottles.
The variety and quality is much better than wine boxes, though. Some good producers offer a half-bottle option and, of course, sweet wines such as sauternes are generally packaged in halves anyway (the Co-op has a good one, Château Roumieu, for £10.)
Spirits also seem better suited to solo drinking, because you’re unlikely to want more than a shot or two.
Whisky is my tipple of choice for a solitary dram, and although I love Islay, I’m really taken with the version of Highland Park in today’s recommendations. Try it with or without a friend.
Four drinks to enjoy on your own
Hawke’s alcohol-free Designated Cider
£1.30 (330ml can), 0.5% and in Brewdog bars. Deliciously fresh, crisp and appley, with a nice, tart edge.
Domaine Cauhaupé Jurançon Sec Chant des Vignes 2018
£5.25 a half-bottle The Wine Society, 14%.
Gorgeously lush white from the south-west of France. To sip on its (and your) own.
Wm Morrison Dry Oloroso
£6.25, 20%.
Super-intense, dark, dry, nutty sherry made for Morrisons by the excellent Lustau.
Highland Park 12-year-old Viking Honour
£27.95 (on offer, down from £33.18) Master of Malt, 20%. Big, rich, warm, fruitcakey and peaty: the love child of a sherry cask-aged and an Islay malt.
• For more by Fiona Beckett, go to matchingfoodandwine.com
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