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The New NonTox Newsletter is out!

The New NonTox Newsletter is out!

The New Look 'NonTox News' Is Out Now! Featuring brand of the month... Cridling ! To find out all the latest news in the alcohol free world...

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Introducing....Clausthaler!

My Messy Divorce From Alcohol By Richard @ Clean Break Hi NonToxers, Rich here from Clean Break. I thought you guys might like to hear my story about my messy divorce from alcohol, so here goes.... It had been almost six months since I’d decided to take a break from drinking alcohol, and thanks to the work I’d put in on myself during that time along with the support and guidance from my two coaches, my mindset, self-belief, and confidence were on an upward trajectory. Rewind 12 months though and it was a very different story. It was almost a year to the day that I recall sitting alone at the kitchen table trying to process some very challenging negative thoughts, I guess you could say it was my version of rock-bottom. Alcohol wasn’t the root cause of my problems, but I knew it wasn’t helping. So, at the end of 2021, I decided to take a break from it, initially with a six-month goal in mind, but deep down I think I knew that if I got that far then there was a good chance that I wouldn’t rush back to it. I had a half iron-distance triathlon to train for the following summer, so luckily I had a good ‘excuse’ (yeah, weird isn’t it that society says we need some underlying reason to choose not to drink alcohol, as opposed to simply not wanting to!!) to pack it in for a while. Initially it was tough. I avoided social situations, certainly for the first couple of months, and found myself feeling massively conflicted in my work life too…….on one hand I was actively distancing myself from alcohol, but on the other hand, I still had to immerse myself in it whilst at work as it was my job. But it soon became clear that it was too much of a conflict for me to continue, and by easter 2022, I had made the difficult decision to step away from the only career I’d known for over 20 years. At the time, I didn’t know what I wanted to do. I knew what I didn’t want to do any more, but the alcohol industry had been my career for my entire adult life. Luckily something came up at the right time which was a good segue for me out of my old career. But it didn’t work out. I wasn’t right for them, and they weren’t right for me. These things happen. So, after just two months they let me go. During those two months something else happened though. Clearly the book idea wasn’t going to pay the bills, but I couldn’t get the name Clean Break out of my head. And the more I thought about it, the more I believed that it could become something. So, with a somewhat delusional sense of self-belief, Clean Break suddenly went from being a distant dream to the main thing – my own alcohol-free beer brand! The first six months were a truly liberating experiencing, creating something from scratch without having to get approval from anyone else. 20 years’ experience in the drinks came in handy too as it gave a me a solid platform of knowledge and contacts to lean on for advice. I struck gold by finding an incredible freelance designer to work with on the branding (Mike Williams – The Brewers Design Society) and a true legend of the brewing industry believed enough in my crazy idea to be willing to help me with the liquid development (huge thanks to Jordan @ Mash Gang). But starting a drinks brand from scratch is hard (unless your dad is a rockstar, you were a hedge fund trader in a previous life with a decent amount of life savings to lean on, or you just whack your liquid in gold-plated bottles and sprinkle it with unicorn tears glitter!). If it was easy everyone would be doing it. And in many ways, the first bit – creating the brand – is the easiest bit. It’s certainly the fun bit, that’s for sure. But you’ve then got to sell it. And the AF category is competitive now with new brands entering the market on what seems like a daily basis. Thankfully, Clean Break is going in the right direction though. I couldn’t be happier with the way the brand identity is evolving and growing organically. Everything we do is underwritten by our values: Be OPEN & HONEST Seek OPPORTUNITY & ADVENTURE RESPECT & INSPIRE others And my ‘whys’ are as strong now as they were a year ago……to normalise the choice to not drink alcohol, to share the benefits of taking a Clean Break from alcohol & to help others make positive progress in their own lives. We have some exciting plans for our first Christmas campaign – ‘A December to remember’ - and we’re planning to launch at least one additional beer to add to the range in 2024. You never know, I might even make a start on the book too! Oh, and keep an eye out for my January fundraising challenge where I’ll be raising money for my two charity partners to whom we donate 10p from every unit of Clean Break sold....take a look at the links below for more info! Cheers, Rich ☺️ Ps don't forget to follow Clean Break on our social channels too!