The Club Soda podcast

This podcast episode is kicking off a series of 5 episodes to come over the next month focusing on Black History Month. We've invited the wonderful Yasmin Spark to take over our podcast for the month, leading a series of interviews with voices from the Global Majority on changing drinking habits and overcoming problem drinking. In this introductory podcast, we get to know our Black History Mo...

When we started putting together this latest podcast, it was scheduled for National Hospitality Day which has now been moved to 30 September due to the period of national mourning. National Hospitality Day is a day to celebrate people who work in the hospitality industry and the amazing spaces that they run. At Club Soda, we are connected to this through our work with The Drinks Trust and supporti...

This week's podcast guest, Lea Watson, is known mostly for her Instagram account @glowsober where she is the queen of alcohol-free drinks and quit-lit reviews. But her reasons for going alcohol-free are much deeper than a healthy lifestyle choice. Lea talks candidly about the tragedy that made her turn to drink and the power she found in taking back control of her alcohol issues, and her life...

While most social gatherings tend to involve booze, alcohol and sport seem to be inextricably linked. It's a heady mix of celebration drinks, commiseration drinks, and getting together in a passionate environment. Trips away, hosting others, and using the clubhouse for events also lend themselves to a good amount of drinking. So what happens when alcohol and sport become a problem for players...

While changing our drinking can be challenging, it's important not to lose the things that bring us joy as a counterbalance. Giving up alcohol doesn't have to mean giving up all the other things that booze may have played a part in, and that includes socialising, dancing, and feeling free. Sure, partying our socks off without alcohol to turn the self-conscious switch off can seem dauntin...

A big topic of constant discussion in our community is alcohol-free wine. People who've been hardcore wine drinkers who have not quit drinking search for alcohol-free alternatives. Often disappointed by the alcohol-free wines that they're finding in their supermarkets, people become really desperate to find something else of a higher quality. When it comes to good alcohol-free alternativ...

The British summer may well be unpredictable, but we'll always find time to have a long Sunday afternoon lazing on a picnic blanket in the warmth. While this is a rare slice of balmy heaven for many, for some of us this can be a really triggering experience. In social situations like this, usually associated with alcohol, the anxiety around the cans of booze and ready-made cocktails in the pi...

This week's podcast is a look back at last month's fantastic Mindful Drinking Festival in Brighton. One of our two keynote speakers, comedian and author Rosie Wilby , talked about alcohol and relationships, breakups, and making space for one another. Many of you will know Rosie from her podcast, The Breakup Monologues, which is also the title of her brilliant new book . As Rosie explains...

This week, Club Soda co-founder Dru is joined by founder Laura and events organiser Josh to talk about the exciting festival speakers and events that will be happening during the Mindful Drinking Festival . If you don't already know, this year's festival, the tenth one we've run, will be held at the beautiful Brighton Open Markets on July 9 & 10, and there's so much to see...

With only a fortnight to go until our Mindful Drinking Festival in Brighton, we thought that the team at Club Soda could give you a little festival preview so that you know what to expect to find. We're super excited to be meeting you all in person again at the beautiful Brighton Open Markets, and we're bringing a whole host of brilliant alcohol-free brands with us! This week's podc...

We're really excited to announce that Club Soda has finally become a certified B Corp organisation. It's been a long time in the making and we're really proud that our social impact business is now recognised as being socially, economically, and environmentally responsible. But we're not the only ones in the alcohol-free sector who have received this accolade. We know that livi...

Alcohol-free beer is the healthiest thing you could be drinking in the pub after water and we think that it's worth celebrating the growing prominence of this fantastic, fast-expanding market. We're particularly pleased that alcohol-free beer is starting to get the recognition it deserves as brands and drinks reach their own milestones. Ahead of Beer Day Britain, which is celebrated on t...

When you're a busy parent who's trying to accelerate your career whilst making sure your kids are having plenty of your time and are still getting to football/piano lessons/birthday parties on time, changing drinking habits can be really low down on your packed to-do list. That limited time to decompress at the end of the day might have involved a few wind-down drinks. Changing drinking...

At Club Soda, we're proud to support everyone involved in the alcohol industry. Whether you're a problem drinker, a venue who wants to stock alcohol-free products, or a bartender looking to up their game with knowledge of low and no alcohol drinks, we're here for it. In this week's podcast episode, we revisit a conversation between a long-time friend of Club Soda, Camille Vidal...

It's not unusual, in the early days of changing our drinking, to worry that we won't be able to do the things that we enjoyed before if we don't drink. For most of us, socialising is so intertwined with drinking that we can't see how our social situations - parties, weddings, Saturday nights, friendship groups - will be ok without alcohol playing such a prominent part. It'...

You'll all know Club Soda's founder, Laura Willoughby, but what you might not have known is that this super inspirational woman celebrated 10 years alcohol-free this week. To celebrate, Laura joined co-founder Dru and a host of guests on Zoom to discuss what Laura has learned from 10 years sober. 'It's a very good opportunity for me to share my story and some of the things I&ap...

If you've ever worked in a boozy workplace, you know how difficult it can be if you're cutting down or giving up. Outside of standing around the water cooler, post-work drinks are a typical way of getting to know your colleagues. Business lunches often involve lunchtime drinks, and if, like Laura, you're in a career that sees you at public events, drinking can even start in the morn...

When you're drinking, surrounded by your drinking buddies, and having a good time, it's hard to imagine what life would be like when you're sober. Would those drinking buddies understand that the good time can quickly escalate into chaos? Would they still want to hang out if you took a break from drinking? If you're newly sober, will you be able to make new friends who understa...

Giving up alcohol often leaves space for other things to become more prominent in your life. You might find you have more time for hobbies, have deeper relationships with friends and family, and learn to love other drinks other than alcohol. In Club Soda founder Laura 's case, she accidentally walked into a fine tea shop one day, and so began her love affair with tea. Making time for tea is a...

When having work done on their house, Club Soda co-founder Dru Jaeger found themselves hotdesking in a cafe, ordering an alcohol-free beer. On the back of a bottle of their Clear Head 0.5% IPA was an advert from Talk Club, a talking and listening movement for men. Talk Club has collaborated with Bristol Beer Factory by providing space for meetings, collaborating together making beer, helping to ra...

For Canadian rap artist Dax , his latest hit 'Dear Alcohol' started as a poem. It reflected his drinking habits once he moved to LA to become a full time music artist. With three or four boozy music events every night, the booze also became a full time habit. Using alcohol as a confidence tool on his first tour, the alcohol started to consume Dax's life. 'I just found myself be...

In this week's podcast episode, we are recapping a conversation that we had at our Global Mindful Drinking Festival in October last year about willpower. The topic of willpower is one that's brought up often in the Club Soda community, usually when people are in the early days of changing their drinking and wonder 'why doesn't willpower work for me?'. Club Soda founder, La...

A few weeks back, Dru Jaeger caught up with Dr Annemarie McAllister , a cultural historian and leading researcher into the history and effects of the temperance movement. Annemarie is a senior research fellow in History at the University of Central Lancaster, and a nationally renowned expert on the history of temperance. Dru's conversation with Annemarie has been particularly interesting to u...

This week's podcast is a collaborative effort between Dru Jaeger of Club Soda and Victoria Volk of Grieving Voices podcast . Victoria is a grief recovery specialist and hosts Grieving Voices. If you subscribe to her podcast as well, you'll get to hear this again. In this conversation, Dru and Victoria talk really frankly about their experiences of childhood bereavement and the ways in wh...

It's true to say that alcohol and neurodiversity are not indivisible. Alcohol is often used as a coping mechanism in social situations. If you have autism, socialising can be extra daunting, and your intake of 'Dutch courage' can become excessive. In this week's podcast, Meet the Scholar host Claire Davey talks to our guest, author and speaker Chelsey Flood about alcohol and ne...