Clean Co (no-alcohol spirit alternative drinks)
CleanCo offers no alcohol alternatives to gin, whisky, rum, vodka and tequila. This brand invests in flavour profiles to create like-for-like alternatives to alcohol spirits. For age 18 and over, as they replicate spirit drinks.
Just 2 to 3 calories per single measure. Made in Manchester, drinks are packed in recycled glass bottles with Flexi-Hex compostable packaging. Once opened, drink within 3 months.
If using mixers, choose soda water over quinine for pregnancy/nursing and certain medical conditions (liver failure, blood thinners, antibiotics and anti-depressants, due to quinine). Check medication inserts before consuming drinks with grapefruit or rhubarb.
What Makes Clean G Drinks Different?
Unlike many independent no-alcohol drinks, this one has not sold out, and is now the largest independent no-alcohol spirit brands in the world. It’s great when we hear of rags-to-riches stories.
But sometimes it’s just as uplifting to hear of rich people with good business acumen, who use their skills, education, experience and connections to create something good, to help others.
Use these drinks as you would normal spirit drinks (with mixers or in cocktails, not neat).
Live tonight, thrive tomorrow. Company motto!
The range includes:
Clean G – to replace gin. Made with notes of juniper, lemon, orange, rosemary and lavender for a fruity herby finish.
Clean R – to replace rum. Ideal for a no-alcohol mojito. With notes of caramel, apricot, vanilla, star anise, orange, pimento and cinnamon.
Clean T – to replace tequila. Ideal for a no-alcohol margarita. With notes of green agave, sweet melon, black pepper and cedarwood.
Clean W – to replace whisky. With notes of oak, vanilla, spice, fresh apple and fig. A good knock-on advantage is that unlike most whisky, this is not destroying peat bogs (home to endangered butterflies and helps to prevent floods).
Where to Buy Clean G Drinks
You can find Clean G drinks in shops, or shop online (regular shoppers get loyalty points, depending on the club you join – the host, the bartender or the mixologist!)
Try Some Clean G Cocktails
If you fancy some mocktails (no-alcohol cocktails) there are many simple recipes to try, using Clean G Drinks including:
- Strawberry Daiquiri
- Ginger Mojito
- Gin Spritz
- Dark & Stormy
- Pina Colada
What are Alcohol-Free Spirits?
Usually, no alcohol can really be 0% booze, as even fruit and bread contains a little alcohol. But 0.5% is as low as you can get. But Clean G has recently formulated their drinks to actually be 0%. It’s officially safe to drive (but still best to avoid for pregnancy/nursing).
Do You Drink Too Much Booze?!
If you like to drink spirits, and are wondering whether you need to cut down (and perhaps sub with a few alcohol-free beers through the week), here is a simple guide (none of that confusing ‘unit’ stuff):
For a normal sized adult, NHS recommendations are (these are either/or – not all together!):
- 12 measures of spirits (not all on the same day!)
- 6 pints of beer a week
- 6 glasses of wine a week
So in plain English, if you drink a double gin and tonic 6 days a week, that’s the limit. Any more could be alcohol-free (leaving one day alcohol-free). Or mix and match if you also drink wine or beer.
Who Founded Clean G Drinks?
The brand was founded by Eton-educated Spencer Matthews. If you think you know him, it’s because he was one of the original stars of Made in Chelsea, a documentary focusing on the lives of affluent young men and women in London.
He had a reputation as a bit of a party boy, then decided to give up drinking. Offered water, sugary soft drinks or juicy ‘mocktails’, he missed a cheeky G & T and margarita, so decided to invent his own, without the booze.
One of Spencer’s older brothers died age 22, just 3 hours short of reaching the summit of Mount Everest. He took part in a documentary where he also climbed the mountain, to try to find his brother’s body to return home for burial).
He did not find him, but did find the body of a local sherpa (and as the family could not afford it, mounted an operation to bring his body back to his family for burial).
In an interview at Alcohol Change, he writes that ‘I wouldn’t be friends with the drinking Spencer of years ago’. He says he was dishonest and unproductive while drinking, and told lies to cover up the extent of his drinking. He thought his time on Made in Chelsea entitled him to everything, and he would blame others for anything that didn’t go right.
All that has now changed, since going alcohol-free. He says he used to sweat ‘tying his shoelaces’, but recently ran 30 marathons in 30 days, to raise money for men’s suicide prevention charity James’ Place.
He says that giving up the booze not only dropped excess weight, but literally turned him into a better person.
If you are somebody who is drinking a lot, you owe yourself the understanding of also just being sober for a while, in my opinion. You will be very pleasantly surprised, if you’ve not done it before.
Try replacing your alcohol drinks with a Clean Co cocktail and see if that does the trick. No one’s really going to bother you with ‘why aren’t you drinking?’, because it looks the same, feels the same and can help you fit in. Spencer Matthews
The brand has recently welcomed on board Ben Stokes OBE, a former cricketer who campaigns for men’s mental health. Also previously a bit of a drinker, he knows that giving up alcohol is a good step in the right direction, for men suffering from anxiety and depression.
Just like its awful reports on the Hillsborough football stadium disaster, The Sun newspaper showed it had not learned, when publicly reporting on a family tragedy in Ben’s family, which he condemned as ‘the lowest form of journalism’. His family took legal action, with the paper having to pay damages to Stokes and his mother, to cover legal costs and the immense stress and heartache caused.
