ANYONE with a hangover today may be contemplating giving up alcohol and joining in the dry January challenge.
And a Wargrave pub is aiming to make it easy for abstainers to enjoy a drink without touching a drop.
The Bull in the village’s High Street is one of a number of Brakspear pubs offering a free bottle of Heineken 0.0% alcohol beer until the end of the month.
Also taking part are two Wokingham pubs: The Hope and Anchor in Station Road, and the Duke’s Head in Denmark Street.
And the pub chain is also adapting its popular Henley Ale Trail specially for Dry January.
Drinkers taking part are encouraged to visit 10 pubs in the town and buy a low or non-alcoholic beer in each to get a stamp on the ale trail map. Once completed, participants can visit The Bull on Bell Street to claim a free smart metal water bottle featuring the iconic Brakspear bee.
For those who don’t visit Henley, more than 20 Brakspear pubs are offering the free bottle of Heineken 0.0% once they have bought eight low or non-alcoholic beers.
At the end of the month, completed cards from all pubs will be put into a hat and one lucky drinker will receive a £25 bar tab in their local Brakspear pub.
Brakspear said that giving up alcohol doesn’t mean giving up on drinks choice or taste. Drinks available in participating pubs – varying according to pub – include: Heineken 0.0%, Estrella Freedamm, Shipyard Low Tide and Becks Blue; Old Mout and Kopparberg zero alcohol fruit ciders, and distilled spirit alternative Seedlip, in two flavours.
Brakspear chief executive Tom Davies said: “January can be a pretty miserable month for many of us, with the festive fun over for a year and a long stretch of cold, dark days ahead.
“We think a trip to the pub to enjoy a sociable drink or two in front of a roaring fire, in the company of fellow pubgoers, is the perfect remedy for the winter blues.
“Just because people are giving up alcohol for January, they shouldn’t have to give up this wonderful winter pleasure. That’s why we’re offering them a Dry January version of our popular Ale Trail, and a free no alcohol beer in many of our pubs outside Henley.”
He added: “The Dry January Ale Trail is an alternative, not a replacement, to our long-established Henley Ale Trail.
“Drinkers choosing to stay off the wagon during January will also receive a warm welcome in our pubs and can, as usual, collect stamps against their beer purchases to redeem for a free pint and an Ale Trail T-shirt.”
The 10 Brakspear pubs in Henley running the Dry January Ale Trail are: The Anchor, Angel on the Bridge, Bull on Bell Street, HOF’s, Little Angel, Old Bell, Row Barge, Saracen’s Head, Three Horseshoes and Three Tuns.
Outside Henley, local pubs offering a free bottle of Heineken 0.0% include: Bull in Wargrave, Catherine Wheel in Goring, Hare & Hounds in Sonning Common, Maltsters Arms at Rotherfield Greys, Rising Sun at Witheridge Hill, Unicorn in Kingwood and White Hart in Nettlebed.
