We’ve tasted our previous picks again and tried over a dozen additional nonalcoholic beverages. We’ve updated our favorites, adding new picks such as Aplós Calme and Figlia Fiore Frizzante.
I don’t drink alcohol, but I love to drink—you can catch me guzzling green apple Gatorade, swirling homemade kombucha, and squirreling away cans (not bottles!) of Coke from the corner store every chance I get. I live a very satisfying beverage life sans booze, but soda doesn’t always cut it when I want to feel included in a toast, bring drinks to share at a picnic, or sit and sip on something that is itself the main event.
Some nonalcoholic drinks are faux versions of alcoholic spirits, like, say, alcohol-free tequilas. For this guide, we mostly tasted and picked beverages that, rather than mimicking liquors, are crafted to hold their own in complexity, maturity, and uniqueness.
Nonalcoholic drinks are not for everyone, and it can take a lot of tasting to find the right one for you. People avoiding alcohol may find the bite of some off-putting. Some drinks are too sweet for one person and too bitter for the next. And if you’re avoiding alcohol for pregnancy or health reasons, or if you take prescription medications, nonalcoholic drinks aren’t necessarily risk-free—many contain vitamins, botanical extracts, and caffeine levels that you may want to discuss with your doctor before imbibing.
These drinks can also be expensive, some confoundingly so, and splurging on a bottle only to find it not to your taste can be a real buzzkill. We’ve tried to describe the flavor notes and challenges of all of our picks, but every palate is different. If you live near an NA bevs store (many are popping up around the country), we highly recommend visiting in person, as stores are often eager to offer samples.
If you’re looking to treat yourself to a special, refined, prepackaged drink with layers of flavor that offer a distinctive drinking experience—maybe housed in a chic, dinner-party-worthy bottle—one of our favorite nonalcoholic drinks may be just the brew for you.
Best Overall: Ghia Apéritif With a blend of yuzu and gentian root, this aperitif tastes even better than it looks, and features a bouquet of floral citrus with bracing bitterness that makes it very refreshing.
Why you should trust us
As a staff writer on Wirecutter’s kitchen team, Mace Dent Johnson has worked on multiple taste tests and written about soda makers, air fryers, food processors, other small appliances, and specialty consumables. Mace is a hydration enthusiast and a non-alcohol drinker—and is serious about special little drinks.
This guide builds on the research of writer Anna Perling, who spoke with nonalcoholic drink experts, bartenders, and mixologists and studied recipes and guides to determine what makes a good nonalcoholic beverage.
Sour and savory with herbal notes, Adrift is complex but not punishing, and it lends itself well to mixing.
Tonic imparts a slight sweetness to Adrift, adding just enough oomph to make it even more sippable—we’d love to drink these convenient cans at the beach or the park.
Pentire Adrift is a compelling, but not overly challenging, clear herbal spirit. It opens with green, vegetal notes—rosemary, moss, and sage—with bright citrus and an alcohol-like bitter sourness. If you don’t like a dry, astringent drink, you might not like Adrift, but we found the tartness quite moreish.
Adrift comes in a simple, attractive, clear 200 mL or 700 mL bottle. Pentire recommends serving it with ice and soda water or tonic. Carbonation opens up the nose, bringing out subtle floral notes and sweetness. A squeeze of citrus elevates it to a refreshing, tart, woodsy drink that we love to sip.
We also appreciate the premixed Pentire Adrift & Tonic cans, with the tonic adding a not-too-sweet note that brings out Adrift’s subtleties. We could see ourselves tossing these simple, refined, 330 mL cans into the cooler all summer long.
Ingredient highlights: Adrift contains rock samphire and other sea-herb extracts, and the premixed Adrift & Tonic contains quinine.
ABV: Pentire says its beverages are “non-alcoholic so less than 0.5 abv.”
Dietary notes: Adrift is vegan and gluten-free, and it contains no added sugar. Adrift & Tonic is vegan and gluten-free.
We love this vegetal spirit with soda water and lemon as a more grown-up seltzer.
Tasting of garden peas, cucumber, and thyme, Seedlip Garden 108 is vegetal and herby, inviting you through layers of green, grassy flavors. Mix in some soda water, and the acid and sweetness bloom, creating a refreshing, mature alternative to a flavored seltzer. We liked this spirit mixed with seltzer and lemon; we don’t recommend this as a beverage to sip neat. Some tasters said it smelled and tasted of mouthwash and aftershave, but those flavors mostly mellowed out into a pleasant piney taste once we mixed it with seltzer or tonic. Seedlip Garden 108 and Pentire Adrift are somewhat similar—both are clear, bright, vegetal spirits—but Garden 108 is sweeter, less tart, and more subtle. Garden 108 comes in elegant 700 mL bottles.
Ingredient highlights: Garden 108 contains “botanical distillates and extracts,” but the label does not list them. It contains hay, peas, and hops.
ABV: Seedlip says that Garden 108 may contain trace amounts of alcohol with an ABV of less than 0.05% when consumed neat, and that when consumed in the recommended serving (2 ounces with ice and a mixer) it contains no more alcohol than a glass of orange juice.
Dietary notes: Garden 108 is vegan, “allergen friendly,” gluten-free, sugar-free, and sweetener-free.
An aromatic, bright spirit, Calme offers a yuzu flavor that kept us sipping even as its slightly soapy florals lingered.
Tasters fell in love with the smell of Aplós Calme, a sweet, captivating, citrus aroma that came right off the glass. But the flavor is a bit more complex, with floral undertones, hints of cucumber, and a bitterness that, mixed with the somewhat slick mouthfeel of the spirit, reminded us a bit of soap. If any level of perfume or soap vibe in a consumable puts you off or takes your taste buds to Grandma’s bathroom, stay away.
But especially with a little seltzer and lemon, Calme rewards the brave with a truly one-of-a-kind drink that reminded us of crushed pears, fresh-squeezed citrus, lemon candy, and the grapefruit-flavored Japanese sports drink Pocari Sweat. Like its companion, Aplós Arise, Calme comes in a squat, opaque, 575 mL bottle that might accidentally wind up wherever you keep your fancy olive oils.
Ingredient highlights: Calme contains hemp extract, dandelion, and gentian root.
ABV: Aplós lists the ABV as 0%.
Dietary notes: Calme is gluten-free, vegan, and sugar-free.
One of the more unique NA spirits we’ve tasted, Arise keeps you pondering as you sip, and it mellows into a refreshing, compelling drink when mixed.
A slightly opaque, yellowish spirit, Aplós Arise surprised us even as it poured out of its odd, attractive but olive-oil-like bottle. Tasted neat, it hit us with citrus, a jalapeño-esque burn, and notes of green banana peel, fried sweet plantain, paint thinner, and sugar-free candy. Some tasters were put off by a lingering vitamin mouthfeel that reminded us of chewing chalky Flintstones vitamins.
Mixed with seltzer and a squeeze of lime, the drink opened up—the more off-flavors subsided, the floral notes expanded, and the drink melded into a heady, unusual, interesting experience as savor-able as any boozy cocktail. It is certainly the odd sibling in the Calme and Arise duo. Arise comes in shareable 575 mL bottles.
Ingredient highlights: Arise contains L-theanine, L-choline bitartrate, moringa extract, ginseng, vitamin D3, and vitamin B12.
ABV: Aplós lists its ABV as 0%.
Dietary notes: Arise is gluten-free, vegan, and sugar-free.
One of the more complex, balanced aperitifs we tasted, Ghia boasts grapefruit-like bitterness, herbal notes, and a gingery kick.
Whereas other NA beverages slow you down in one primary way, be it spice, bitterness, or astringency, Ghia Original Apéritif braids those sensations together, with each sip offering you a dynamic combination—fresh bittersweet citrus, astringent gentian root, tart fruit juice, and gingery burn—to savor and unpack.
Among the nonalcoholic aperitifs we tasted, Ghia Original is one of the most complex. You may prefer Figlia Fiore if you like floral flavors, and you may prefer Wilfred’s if you want a thinner, sweeter drink or something better mixed.
One gripe: Ghia’s bottles, though cute, are sealed with corks attached to wooden knobs that are very easy to break. We’ve broken the knob off every bottle of Ghia Original we’ve tried, no matter how little force we apply, so we’ve had to whip out a corkscrew to remove the stuck cork. We much prefer the swanky glass stopper on the Figlia bottle.
Ingredient highlights: Ghia contains extracts of gentian root, lemon balm, elderflower, rhubarb root, orange, ginger, and rosemary.
ABV: Ghia contains 0% alcohol.
Dietary notes: Ghia is vegan, caffeine-free, and gluten-free, and it contains no added sugars.
Figlia is a balanced, slightly bitter, nicely sweet aperitif with layers of warming spices.
Frizzante mixes Fiore and sparkling water in cute, picnic-perfect cans.
The deep red color peeking through the chic, minimal glass bottle of Figlia Fiore compels you to pour a glass, and the ruby drink doesn’t disappoint. A sip leads with notes of cherry, citrus, currant, plum, and an almost sangria-like fruit funk; hints of rose, layers of warming spices (especially clove), and a slight ginger burn then round out each sip. Our tasters found Fiore complex enough—with a slight bitterness brought on by the ginseng root and orange rind—but grounded in an appealing sweetness that made it easier to drink than some of the more challenging bevs we tried.
Mixing with soda water tames this aperitif, making it a bit more light and refreshing. If you’re looking for a premixed sparkling version, try Fiore Frizzante, Figlia’s convenient cans of Fiore and sparkling water. This could be a good aperitif for trying your hand at NA-bev mixing—we could see Fiore playing nicely with teas, ginger beer, tonic, and more. Fiore comes in simple, stylish 750 mL bottles, and Fiore Frizzante comes in cute 250 mL cans.
Ingredient highlights: Fiore and Fiore Frizzante contain chamomile, ginseng root, rosemary extract, and rose extract.
ABV: Figlia does not list either beverage as having a residual alcohol content.
Dietary notes: These drinks are vegan and gluten-free.
Wilfred’s packs enough of an alcohol-like sting and bitter edge to be compelling, and it has enough sweetness and spice to be balanced and welcoming.
Wilfred’s bittersweet nonalcoholic aperitif visually excites, its bright red liquid held in a tall, slim, bottle with an art deco–style label. More than Figlia Fiore, Wilfred’s has an alcohol-like sting and a bracing bitter edge. Combined with the drink’s tartness, they create a puckering sensation that leaves you wanting more.
We picked up notes of honey, cranberry juice cocktail, blood orange, rosemary, cola, and a fruit-punch flavor that evoked Otter Pops. Soda water and lemon tame the drink’s sweetness and make it more refreshing. Wilfred’s could satisfy a Campari craving or whet your appetite before dinner. It comes in a 500 mL bottle.
Ingredient highlights: Wilfred’s contains botanical distillates and extracts, but its label does not list them.
ABV: No residual alcohol content listed.
Dietary notes: This aperitif is vegan and gluten-free.
With lychee and grapefruit juices, rooibos tea, and Champagne vinegar among its ingredients, Très Rosé is an easy-to-drink but still complex aperitif.
De Soi’s Très Rosé is a fruit-forward sparkling aperitif that reminded us of a more whimsical nonalcoholic wine. It has a slight sweetness that evokes fruit leather, mixed berry jam, and lychee gummies. Tiny, Champagne-like bubbles brighten its thick, almost syrupy juiciness, and its sweet and tart flavors finish with a subtle rose, creating a satisfying wine-like roundness. This drink is approachable and easily sippable but not boring or unrefined. Très Rosé comes in packs of cute 8-ounce cans or shareable 750 mL bottles.
Ingredient highlights: Très Rosé contains lion’s mane, L-theanine, and other extracts.
ABV: De Soi’s FAQ calls its drinks “entirely non-alcoholic” and does not list an ABV.
Dietary notes: This beverage is vegan and gluten-free.
No. 2 is a well-balanced sweet and salty bottled cocktail with a nice spicy kick.
Curious Elixirs offers eight booze-free cocktails with daring, unusual flavor combinations. We think Curious Elixir No. 2 is the winner, with its approachable but complex, unique but familiar blend of pineapple, jalapeño, and lime. Curious likens the drink to a cross between a dark and stormy and a spicy pineapple margarita, and the beverage’s salt content provides a savory edge that we found delectable. We’d play on that by serving this tepache-like drink in a salt-rimmed glass to further tease out the margarita comparison.
Burdened by unnecessary “adaptogens,” this drink has a slight health-food-store aroma and medicinal aftertaste. A splash of seltzer mellows that out and amplifies the carbonation. Curious Elixir No. 2 comes in 355 mL bottles that reminded us of homemade beer.
Ingredient highlights: Curious Elixir No. 2 contains damiana extract.
ABV: Curious lists this drink as 100% booze-free.
Dietary notes: No. 2 is vegan and gluten-free.
Sweet, punchy fruit flavor meets a spicy kick in this approachable, caffeinated spirit.
Three Spirit Livener tastes of punchy and slightly funky fruit, with notes of watermelon and mixed berries. Cayenne pepper extract grants the spirit a needed kick, elevating it from fruit juice to spicy watermelon margarita. We loved the heat of Livener, but some tasters found the drink a bit too sweet to drink straight. Poured over ice, the flavors blend and the sweetness mellows, creating a more dynamic and subtle drinking experience. Our tasters found Livener uncomplicatedly delicious, but those who preferred more challenging, herbaceous drinks found it underwhelming.
If you’re wary of the herbal bitterness of other NA bevs, but you like and tolerate caffeine, this offering could be a great place to start. Livener comes in a 500 mL opaque bottle that, like a couple of our other picks, more resembles a trendy olive oil than a sophisticated drink.
Ingredient highlights: Livener contains botanical extracts including guava leaf, schisandra berry, ginseng, and guayusa leaf. Livener also contains green tea extract, which gives it a high caffeine content of 57.5 milligrams per each 1.7-fluid-ounce serving—almost as much as a shot of espresso.
ABV: Three Spirit says that Livener is certified as nonalcoholic but contains trace amounts of alcohol, less than 0.5% ABV.
Dietary notes: Livener is vegan and gluten-free.
Though not quite a traditional negroni, this drink is a balanced, bittersweet near-equal.
An added hint of smokiness kicks this mocktail up a notch.
St. Agrestis’s Non-Alcoholic Phony Negroni and Non-Alcoholic Phony Mezcal Negroni balance a strong, syrupy sweetness with compelling bitters, with the latter adding smokiness to the mix. We picked up hints of cherry, with an alcohol-like bite that smacked, to some, of cherry cough medicine. Our resident negroni and mezcal enthusiast likes this drink poured over ice with a big lemon wedge—some dilution and acid mellow the drink out into bittersweet bliss. Negroni purists, be warned: Both drinks are carbonated.
We like that the individual bottles are unique and stylish, perfect for bringing to a party, and the drinks themselves really feel like mature, sippable cocktails. Opt for the Phony Mezcal Negroni if you’re a mezcal fan or like your drinks with a hint of smoke; try it with a wedge of lime. Both options are great cocktail dupes, sold in cool, tapered 200 mL bottles or artsy little cans.
Ingredient highlights: St. Agrestis says its phony negronis contain botanicals, but does not list them out. Both Phony Negronis contain quinine.
ABV: St. Agrestis does not list a residual alcohol content for either drink.
Dietary notes: These beverages are vegan and gluten-free.
Offering tame bitterness and light botanical flavors, these sodas are like a cross between bitters and soda and hard seltzer.
Casamara Club’s Italian Amaro Leisure Sodas might be more accurately called botanical seltzers, as they don’t taste all that similar to an amaro and aren’t nearly as concentrated in flavor as a soda. But we liked their refreshing subtlety, and we could see ourselves drinking a few over the course of a day at the beach or pool.
Alta is like a mild bitters and soda, with a hint of mint. We found it refreshing, uncomplicated, and easy to drink, but more mature than a La Croix. Como was more complex, with a prominent cardamom flavor that seemed special and unique among the drinks we tried. Sera was similar to Como, with layers of warming spices and herbal notes. Onda delivered notes of juniper, sage, and chamomile. Each soda is simple and drinkable enough to be refreshing, yet bitter and herbaceous enough to feel refined, special, and complex—but if you’re looking for strong, punchy flavors, look elsewhere. The variety pack of Casamara Club sodas comes in 6-, 12-, or 24-packs of 355 mL bottles. You can also get packs of individual flavors in bottles or cans.
Ingredient highlights: Casamara Club sodas contain botanical extracts such as clove and juniper, but no vitamin-y ingredients marketed as “adaptogens.”
ABV: Casamara Club says that its sodas are “totally non-alcoholic.”
Dietary notes: The sodas do not contain gluten, but Casamara Club notes that its drinks and facilities are not certified gluten-free. Como and Sera contain honey, but Alta and Onda are vegan.
Other good nonalcoholic drinks
If you’re a connoisseur of all things spicy or want to replicate the full-body warming experience of drinking whiskey: Try Uncle Waithley’s Vincy Brew ($55 for a 12-pack of 355 mL bottles at the time of publication). Made with scotch bonnet, this ginger beer packs a heat that builds as you drink it. The spice is more a warming, deep-chested burn than a painful lip tingle, similar to the cozy sensation of drinking a strong hot toddy.
The spice level and scotch bonnet flavor kept us coming back for more while also slowing down our sipping, something we look for in NA bevs to match the gradual savoring of alcoholic drinks. But we wished the ginger flavor were more fresh, and we found the drink slightly weighed down by a sort of cough-drop-like ginger turmeric flavor. Still, the distinctive spice experience made up for that. Tasters agreed that this would be a great drink to sip on while sick, or a sweet complement to a huge plate of carne asada fries.
If you want a relatively simple, juice-like sparkling drink and don’t need things to taste too serious: Try De Soi Purple Lune ($25 for a four-pack of 240 mL cans at the time of publication). We picked up notes of prune, sour cherry, and grape candy in this thick, syrupy sparkling drink. Though it is quite sweet, the layers of fruit flavors add an adequate freshness and funk. But if you want to feel like your drink is as complex and mature as a cocktail or spirit, this may not be the drink for you. For that, we prefer De Soi Très Rosé.
If you want a tart, tannic beverage reminiscent of nonalcoholic wine or sour beer: Try Ghia Berry (about $40 for a 500 mL bottle at the time of publication). Ghia Berry tasted like a more mature, dry version of the approachable De Soi Purple Lune. The drink is, as promised, berry forward, with flavors of blueberry, blackberry, black currant, and hawthorn berries. Tasters detected a slight smokiness and saltiness, with a subtle hint of soy sauce.
Whereas Ghia Original Apéritif is somewhat thick and cloudy, Ghia Berry is thin, with the look and viscosity of wine. Mixed about 1:1 with seltzer, Ghia Berry reminded us of a fruity sour beer. Overall, Ghia Berry is a drying, fruit-juicy aperitif lacking some of the citrusy freshness and herbal complexity of Ghia Original.
If you want another spice-forward single-serve option, or if you have to choose between the Ghia canned spritzes: Try Ghia Sumac & Chili ($60 for a 12-pack of 8-ounce cans at the time of publication). The chili spice of this spritz hits your nose first, elevated by light carbonation, then spreads throughout your palate and settles in your chest. The building, lingering spice of this drink slows you down the way alcohol would, with a slightly more stinging burn than the whiskey-like warmth of Uncle Waithley’s. The spice level was, for some tasters, almost overpowering, and it muted the more subtle flavors of Ghia’s aperitif. We like this canned spritz more than the others Ghia offers.
If you love coffee and drinking vinegar: Try Woodnose Sacré ($45 for a 750 mL bottle at the time of publication). Sacré is intensely sour, like a forgotten fermenting kombucha. If you like kombucha, drinking vinegars, and other sour drinks, and you appreciate the flavors of coffee and maple, this may be just the drink for you. Although we didn’t all like Sacré, those testers who did were big fans, and we all felt called to cook with it.
If you want a drink that’s bitter, astringent, and floral, and you’re up for a challenge: Try Rasāsvāda Rose Bergamot ($40 for a 375 mL bottle at the time of publication). Testers who liked this drink appreciated its tart astringency and floral, tea-like aftertaste. We picked up notes of beets, honey, chamomile, and industrial machinery. Whereas similar drinks were sweet and herbaceous, this drink was extremely dry and floral. Rose Bergamot was unique and polarizing for us—it’s a good drink for the daring tea lover in your life.
If you’re accustomed to drinking whiskey neat, love an alpine amaro, or could see yourself enjoying chewing on a Christmas tree: Try The Pathfinder ($40 for a 700 mL bottle at the time of publication). Though it looks and smells like flat cola, this spirit is strong, bracing, and surprising, with intense bitterness and a fresh pine aroma. A cola-like sweetness is a faint aftertaste to the herbaceous main event, making this a serviceable nonalcoholic stand-in for an amaro. This drink, too, was polarizing for our panel, with some (amaro-loving, adventurous) tasters loving it and others hating it. One taster remarked, “I feel like I need to have tattoos to qualify to drink this.”
If you like cinnamon and bitter drinks: Try Hella Bitters & Soda Bittersweet Spritz ($40 for a 12-pack of 355 mL cans at the time of publication). Some tasters found the intense bitterness of this drink pleasantly bracing, while others said it was overpowering. We picked up a strong cinnamon flavor nicely melded with a not-too-sweet sweetness.
ANOTHER 5 Non-Alcoholic Mocktails | Recipe by Yum Lounge
FAQ
Is there non-alcoholic aperitif?
What is the most popular non-alcoholic drink in the world?
What is a common alcoholic breakfast aperitif?
What is the most common aperitif?
What is the best non-alcoholic aperitif?
While aperitifs are known to be rich in flavor and low in ABV, at No & Low we’ve discovered the absolute best non-alcoholic aperitifs including Wilfreds, Ghia and Everleaf. This article will be a deep dive into the non-alcoholic aperitif space and will help guide you to find the best Aperitivo for you. Looking to discover more?
What is the best food for breakfast and dinner?
For breakfast, I recommend an avocado toast with egg and fruit to go with it, it’s a very complete meal and full of nutrients. For dinner, something lighter is recommended, such as cooked vegetables, purees or soups, accompanied by a lighter protein as well, such as fish or chicken.
What is a non alcoholic aperitif?
An NA apéritif can contain less than 0.5% ABV (Alcoholic by Volume) or if it is labeled as an alcohol-free aperitif it will contain less than 0.05% ABV. What is a good non-alcoholic apéritif? Whether it is a non-alcoholic aperitif, spirits, wine or beers we always encounter this same question! What makes a non-alcoholic beverage good?
Are no & low aperitifs alcohol-free?
Yes, absolutely! At No & Low, all of our aperitifs are alcohol-free or non-alcoholic. These drinks are a great way to enjoy the flavors and experiences of traditional aperitifs without the many negative effects and consequences of alcohol.