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
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
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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Mixed-fruit wine-ish beverage:
Zerozzante Cuvée Nr. 4 Grape Rhubarb
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
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
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
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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