How to beat the booze while stuck at home during coronavirus restrictions
Jason Quin was worried about how much wine he was drinking but couldn’t find a healthy replacement for his daily tipple. So he created his own. Now he’s hoping it will help others trying to lessen lockdown drinking.
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Jason Quin had his last drink in November, 2018.
“After 25 years working in the wine industry and a number of personal challenges that led to anxiety and fear I started to rely on alcohol,” he said.
“I wanted to stop before it became a real problem.”
After making the decision to abstain he looked for other options to replace the ritual of drinking.
“It is a ritual, and that’s what makes it hard for people to cut back. Most social occasions involve drinking and so many people also see a drink as a way to wind down after work.
“I couldn’t find an adult beverage that would fill that void that was sophisticated and not full of sugar.”
He and wife Andy decided to develop their own and after a lot of research and trial and error they came up with Etch.
“The name says an acronym. It means every time choose health. That’s what we want to encourage people to do,” Mr Quin said.
The range uses native ingredients and superfoods and was designed to mimic the flavours and mouth feel of wine.
“I looked at the wine trends and tried to match them. Sauvignon blanc is popular so one of the drinks has citrus and herbal flavours from finger lime, lemon myrtle and rosemary,” Mr Quin said.
“Rose is flying of the shelves at the moment so we made one of the drinks pink.”
Mr Quin said the ethos behind Etch was even more significant during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It’s a fact that Australians are drinking 20 per cent more than normal, and a third are drinking daily,” he said.
“A lot would say they are drinking more to deal with the anxiety and fear that comes from this situation.
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“But alcohol only heightens those emotions and people are more likely to develop a reliance on drinking during times of stress.”
Mr Quin said websites dedicated to helping people cut back on alcohol before it became a problem were now recommending Etch.
“We’re not selling the drink on those platforms, but they are telling people about it,” he said.
The sites include Hello Sunday Morning, the Daybreak app and Sober in the Country.
Etch is sold online at www.etchsparkling.com.au/