Free to be alcohol-free

A collection of recent stories about people choosing to skip the booze.
 

Watch - PROOF: a documentary about drinking

Blackouts, bad hangovers and even an embarrassing incident with Helen Clark didn't stop Guyon Espiner from drinking - but two years ago he finally quit the booze.

Read - Guyon Espiner: 'Heavy drinking was normal. It was celebrated'

Guyon Espiner can still remember the Steinlager ad campaigns of his youth. Years on, it's still impossible to escape alcohol marketing.

Anna's story: RNZ listener speaks out against myths about alcohol in advertising

"Booze allegedly lifts us when we're down, calms us when we're upset, helps us be upbeat and helps us chill. There are so many myths that need busting around drinking culture" - a text from Anna.

Watch - Bad Alcoholics

TV presenter Hayley Holt chats to James Nokise about drinking, dancing, getting sober and staying happy.

How the alcohol industry targets women

The normalisation of drinking alcohol in virtually every setting is unhealthy, says author Lotta Dann.

Listen - Telling the truth about booze and life

When Clare Pooley left her advertising job to be an at-home mum, her drinking began to spiral out of control. Nearly five years ago, she quit alcohol and started the Mummy was a Secret Drinker blog that spawned her memoir The Sober Diaries. 

 

Disrupting the business of booze

All over the world, younger generations are drinking less. Claire Crofton discovers how millennials are disrupting the hospitality and alcohol industries.

 

An alcohol-free gin with a social mission

Dai Henwood: 'You make your life better by subtracting things rather than adding things'

After quitting drinking and taking up meditation, comedian Dai Henwood says he's happier than ever.

Giving up alcohol with awareness

Annie Grace was a social drinker who eventually found herself drinking two bottles of wine a night. She found a way to change her relationship with alcohol, based on awareness rather than abstinence.

 

No beers, who cares: learning to live without alcohol

Many people feel peer pressure to drink alcohol and are relieved when someone close to them gives up drinking, says Claire Robbie from the support group No Beers? Who Cares!

 

My battle with the booze and depression

 

New Zealand's first non-alcoholic drinks online store

Aotearoa's first online non-alcoholic drink shop - Clear Head Drinks - was launched this year by Kāpiti real estate agent Ricky Bartlett and his wife Donna Weston: