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The nonalcoholic beverages you should absolutely be drinking this year
Everyone likes drinking; not everyone likes drinking alcohol. Thankfully, the nonalcoholic beverages market grows stronger and deeper each year. These recommendations include canned cocktails with terroir-specific vibes and larger bottles that emulate the best of what wine and aperitifs can do.
Any-occasion warm-up:
Ritual Zero-Proof Aperitif Alternative
(Image credit: Ritual Zero Proof)
Aperitifs are, by design, low-proof beverages. They are meant to gently ease you into the evening or a meal. Well, Ritual has shaved off that slight boozy edge off for their aperitif bottle. Think of it like a straight-edged pal of Campari: great on its own or with (n/a) vermouth, or use it as one-third of a n/a Negroni.
Tropical-inflected canned cocktails:
Caleño
(Image credit: Caleño)
Light & Zesty; Dark & Spicy: These are the two spirit alternatives bottled by the Colombia-inspired beverage company. The first is a gin substitute flavored with pineapple and, of course, juniper. The second is a rum alternative flavored with kola nut and vanilla. Play with those Dark 'N Stormys and Tom Collinses.
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A good nonalcoholic beverage can be made from grapes alone. Still, a delightful synergy occurs when a producer mixes grapes with another fruit. The rippling edge of rhubarb adds ballast to this unpasteurized sparkling drink from Germany.
Southwestern desert–inspired drinking:
Parch
(Image credit: Parch)
Love tequila but ready to come at agave from a fresh angle? These canned cocktails come in two iterations: Spiced Piñarita, a take on, yes, a Margarita with prickly pear juice and mole bitters; Prickly Paloma, spiky with hibiscus and grapefruit.
Kicky, hearty sodas:
Casamara Club Amaro Leisure Sodas
(Image credit: Casamara Club)
The inspiration for the four bottlings in this collection swerves from Sicily to the Alps. Each has strong botanicals to conjure the moodiness of a good amaro, plus the refreshing effervescence of a great sparkler or beer.
Beefy, quaffable red wine cousin:
Nuala by Muri
(Image credit: Onggi)
The style of chilled red wine called glou-glou has been a drinkers' warm-weather favorite for some time. Nuala, a stylistic nonalcoholic peer to glou-glou, was born in the fermentation hotbed of Copenhagen and is made with black currants, oak kombucha and pine kvass.
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Scott Hocker is an award-winning freelance writer and editor at The Week Digital. He has written food, travel, culture and lifestyle stories for local, national and international publications for more than 20 years. Scott also has more than 15 years of experience creating, implementing and managing content initiatives while working across departments to grow companies. His most recent editorial post was as editor-in-chief of Liquor.com. Previously, he was the editor-in-chief of Tasting Table and a senior editor at San Francisco magazine.
