Vegan MoFo 2013 - Thirsty Thursday

Thirsty Thursday is one of the themes we came up with in the Vegan MoFo workshop at Vida Vegan Con and I jumped on it because I love the idea of a no-cook day!

Today I thought I'd show you some of my favourite drinks, alcoholic and non. I recently got the book 365 vegan smoothies because I was trying to convince myself that I don't need a juicer!

So far it's not really working and the only smoothie I've loved enough to make again is the first one I tried. The Sassy Green Kick-Start is delicious and packed full of kale, banana, oranges, green grapes and lemon juice. I sub regular water for the coconut because, ew, I tried it a couple of times and I think it ruins everything it touches!

This next one is the best green juice I've ever tasted. It's from Chaco Canyon in Seattle and it's an apple, orange, spinach and mint combo that made my tastebuds explode. What can I say, I like my juices fruity.

I also enjoy a fancy fruity cocktail from time to time. I'm not a huge drinker but this Rhubarb G + T from Terre a Terre sucked me right in.

I also love the cocktail night that Boho Gelato put on in conjunction with Slice Sussex, this monthly event always makes half of the list vegan so that everyone can enjoy. If you're in Brighton the next one's tomorrow.

Green Juices are hard to come by in Brighton, although I've been tipped off recently that Guarana Bar on Sydney Street is the place to go, and when you can't go green go red! This strawberry, kale, broccoli and spinach combo is jam packed with vitamin c and more importantly it's delicious.

I'm also a big fan of peach juice, I hardly ever spot this so when I do I dive right in.

Cider has always had a special place in my heart, in my teens and early twenties I used to drink a lot of cheap dirty cider but now I have the occasional nice cider. Honestly my alcohol tolerance is low enough that just one of these Strawberry Lime Rekorderling ciders can push me over the edge!

Probably my favourite and impossible to find drink is lonkero, or, gin in a tin! It's Finnish and it used to be on sale at one of my favourite pubs, The Northern Lights. It's currently unavailable which makes me a little sad - do we need to have another protest?

I'm occasionally partial to a beer or two. Corona is great when paired with a burrito and a lime slice. 

My favourite beer of all is Lone Star, I'm not really a beer connoisseur so I can't really explain why. I think it might be because it reminds me of Austin!

I spent a long time researching vegan stouts before visiting Ireland earlier this year (wow, was that really only this year? That's crazy.) and my favourite ended up being O'Hara's. I hadn't drunk stout since going vegetarian many years ago and I really enjoyed reuniting with an old favourite.

My other favourite drinks are root beer (which is getting a post of its very own) and water which, lets face it, isn't something I can really blog about. Just in case you're fascinated by my water consumption I drink around 3 litres a day and whilst I like it fancied it up with a slice of cucumber on occasion I need you to keep your lemon slices well away!

Not all vegans are bothered about whether what they're drinking is vegan but I am. We're lucky in the UK because a lot of the big supermarkets including Sainsbury's, The Co-op and Marks & Spencer's label their alcohol as vegan in the same way that they label their food. That definitely makes shopping easier! I also use Barnivore and UK site Veggie Wines to do my research into branded drinks and, as I'm sure you can see, I'm not missing out on any fun!