Last week, the eskimosoup team and a handful of our friends enjoyed the most sober pub crawl any one of us has ever done before. No, we weren’t all driving, and it wasn’t because we had work the next morning. We were following Hull’s Low Ale Trail, a tour of the Old Town’s pubs and bars offering low alcohol and alcohol-free beers and ciders.

The trail has been developed by eskimosoup as part of Hull City Council’s Alcohol Reduction Initiative and promotes safe social drinking in Hull’s busy Old Town area by encouraging drinkers to switch to low alcohol alternatives.

Along with public health, we recruited fifteen local bars to take part in the trail and developed a brand, website and promotional materials for each bar. We also produced a promotional video of the experiences of people on the trail and some members of our team were keen to volunteer to take part!

As a group with a relatively large amount of experience drinking alcohol, we were curious to try out the trail for ourselves and find out whether we could still have a great night socialising whilst dodging the hangovers and beer regret that tend to come hand in hand with a pub crawl.

eskimosoup’s Jenni and Rachel shared their honest experiences of the night.

What initially made you interested in taking part in the Low Ale Trail?

Rachel: For me as a person who likes a beer I was curious to see what the drinks were like and which pubs were included in it.

Jenni: Alcohol is something I would like to cut down on more, but I don’t want to cut down on socialising with friends (which mainly revolves around beer)!

How did you find the drinks?

Jenni: Most were just great replacements for beer, they almost gave me a placebo effect. I preferred the ones that were mimicking lager rather than the fruit beers.

Rachel: For me, the Schofferhofer Grapefruit Beer at ATOM Brewery was the best even though this was actually reduced alcohol and not alcohol-free. It was very refreshing. This was closely followed by Brewdog’s Raspberry Blitz alcohol-free beer at Taphouse.

What did you enjoy the most?

Jenni: I enjoyed spending time with friends without the dread of whether or not I embarrassed myself! My favourite part was being able to drive home after instead of waiting for a taxi.

Rachel: For me, it was really nice socialising with people without worrying about having to find a way home at the end of the night.

Would you choose the Low Ale Trail over a pub crawl?

Rachel: I think that it’s nice to know that you have that option and I was particularly impressed with Taphouse as they have an entire menu with all the low/no alcohol beer available.  I would say that I maybe didn’t drink as quickly as I would if I was drinking alcohol.

Jenni: Not having a hangover is a huge advantage as it meant I could socialise on a weekday and then function normally the next! The main benefit for me would be swapping out some of my alcoholic beers for low alcohol options so that I’m not drinking as much.

Find out more and follow the Low Ale Trail at www.LowAleTrail.co.uk.