Buzzy right now: adaptogenic beverages with ingredients like minerals, vitamins, probiotics and fibre to help you handle stress, increase relaxation, sleep better — and improve your immune system.
For gut health: Toronto-founded Crazy D’s contains prebiotic plant fibres, including yacon and chicory root plus baobab and acacia, to support a healthy gut. Try the Rockin’ Rolla Cherry Cola with bourbon or non-alcoholic Seedlip Spice (cocktailemporium.com or soberlicious.ca) for a fun highball.
Doctor D’s sparkling drinks, made with live probiotic cultures, also support immune-system and gut health, and the Lime Mint Mojito has the zing and sparkle of a cocktail on its own. It’s delicious with a shot of white rum or Lumette non-alcoholic LumRum added (enjoylumette.com).
For mental calm: Leilo (“lay low”) comes with a kick of l-theanine and kava, the South Pacifie root known for calming qualities and a tingly effect on your tongue. Leilo Lite with pineapple, manga and coconut has 10 calories and less than a gram of sugar.
For detox: When life gives you lemons, drink Leman Perfect cold-pressed lemon water. The low-calorie lemonade alternative claims antioxidant and detox benefits and boosts collagen synthesis and digestion. Mix it half-and-half with unsweetened iced tea for a guilt-free Arnold Palmer.
For hydration: In a glass of water, dissolve a ta blet or packet of Hydralyte (sweetened with stevia), SOS Hydration (keto-friendly, with 10 calories and three grams of carbs) or No Days Wasted Hydration Replenisher (30 calories and seven grams carbs). The natural salts and electrolytes rehydrate you faster than water alone, without the sugar of bottled electrolyte drinks.
Homegrown innovation
Bearface’s Wilderness Series launches with whisky infused with rare, umami-packed matsutake mushrooms (foraged in B.C.’s Monashee Mountains) for notes of spice, nuts and earth on the finish. Sip it over a big cube of ice around the firepit.
Another global-first whisky comes from the Grimsby, Ont., distillery that makes Forty Creek. The Forager Botanical Whisky is infused with wild-foraged Canadian botanicals like juniper, Labrador tea, spruce tips, mugwort and sweet fern. Mix this love-child of gin and whisky with tonic for a fresh fall cocktail.
The mimosa is the new spritz
For those last patio brunches, sip the hottest bubbly-spiked drink: a citrusy mimosa.
Darling Mimosa is made with Ontario wine and real fruit juices, with the classic in an orange can and a pink-can grapefruit version. Collective Arts’ Daily Forecast contains 30 per cent fresh-pressed orange juice blended with a sour beer base.
Or make your own mimosas, by the glass or pitcher, with a 1:1 ratio of sparkling wine (such as Prosecco, cava or a dry Canadian bubbly) to pulp-free orange juice. Pour the wine into chilled flutes or globe wine glasses, then slowly add the juice and gently stir. Level-up with fancy blood-orange juice or garnish, or spike them with Grand Marnier or triple sec orange liqueur.
