Botanicals Without the Booze: No-Alcohol Spirits

Nothing can be called zero alcohol, as even fruit and bread have tiny amounts. But 0.5% is the ‘no-alcohol’ label, and these drinks qualify. You could never get drunk on them (as your body would process the tiny alcohol in them before they could take effect). But to be really strict, some say pregnant/nursing women, drivers and alcoholics should avoid them.

Most artisan spirits are mixed with tonic water, and quinine should be avoided for some medical conditions (and pregnancy/nursing, but then hopefully you’re not drinking vodka anyway). Also check medication before consuming grapefruit or rhubarb tonic waters. Keep citrus fruit garnishes away from pets.

For glass bottles, cork is too dense to compost, so recycle at off licenses or send off in bulk to Recorked (don’t leave them lying around, they are choking hazards).

Before recycling cans, rinse then pop ring-pulls over holes. Then use your fingers/thumb to ‘pinch’ inner rims together, to avoid wildlife getting trapped.

Pentire Drinks (made with Cornish coastal botanicals)

These drinks are made with local sustainable ingredients, made in an eco-friendly manner, and all packaging is easy to recycle. Everything is also vegan-friendly.

Pentire Adrift is a wonderful no-alcohol cocktail from Cornwall, made with coastal botanicals and sold in sustainable packaging. Created with the world’s best bartenders, this is ideal for outdoor living. The taste is sublime, thanks to the unique climate, air moisture and soil PH in this beautiful part of the world.

The drink is a herbaceous treat, made with key botanicals of rock samphire, headland sage and lemon citrus.

To serve, pour 50ml into a highball glass filled with ice, and top up with light tonic. Garnish with a sprig of rosemary and/or lemon peel. Once opened, keep the bottles in a cool dry place and use within 12 weeks.

This drink contains rock samphire (sustainably harvested from the Cornish coast). This is a wild edible plant that tastes like a blend of carrots, fennel and citrus with a salty punch. Related to carrots, it often grows out of rocky crevices. It was historically eaten by sailors to prevent scurvy, due to being rich in vitamin C and minerals.

It should never be foraged by people who are not experts. Firstly for sustainabilty, but also becomes it looks similar to hemlock, which is highly toxic.

Subscribe and save to get big discounts on your first and then subsequent orders. Regular subscribers also get bonus gifts like branded zero waste totes and jiggers to build your own Pentire bar at home!

Pentire coastal spritz

Pentire Coastal Spritz is a wonderful no-alcohol cocktail from Cornwall, made with coastal botanicals and sold in sustainable packaging. Created with the world’s best bartenders, this is ideal for outdoor living. The taste is sublime, thanks to the unique climate, air moisture and soil PH in this beautiful part of the world.

Pentire margarita

Pentire Drinks also offers a Cornish-made no-alcohol alternative to tequila! This blends coastal botanicals with lime, sea salt and a dash of Mexican chilli for a ready-to-drink treat.

The drink is sweetened with agave syrup, a honey-like alternative from a plant related to cactus (so check first if you have diabetes). To serve, pour 100ml into a rocks glass over ice. Garlic with a lime wedge and a slice of chilli. Once opened, keep the bottles in a cool dry place and use within 3 weeks.

Clean T (another no-alcohol tequila alternative)

Clean T is a no-alcohol botanical infused spirit to replace tequila, if you are not drinking or reducing alcohol. Crafted by an award-winning team of flavour experts using high quality ingredients, this is perfect to let you enjoy a tipple, but without the booze! Perfect for a no-alcohol margarita!

It’s made with:

Agave
Olive
Sweet melon
Black pepper
Cedarwood

Mix 50ml Clean T with tonic water
Top with ice
Garnish with a lime wedge and/or a dash of tabasco sauce.

All drinks by Clean Co are made in Manchester with vegan ingredients. All are packed in recycled glass bottles with Flexi-Hex compostable packaging. Once opened, drink within 3 months.

Everleaf (developed by a conservation biologist)

Everleaf Mountain is a beautiful no-alcohol aperitif, founded by a conservation biologist (turned mixologist). So you can be assured that everything is sustainably-sourced.

Everleaf is a very sustainable drinks brand, which not only harvests ingredients with care (the Japanese cherry blossom for this drink is from fully sustainable supply chains), but other ingredients do active good:

For example, buying gum acacia helps to support Africa’s Great Green Corridor (increasing arable land in a region bordering the Sahara desert). And purchasing real vanilla helps to fund conservation, education and women’s rights in Madagascar.

This aperitif tastes of wild strawberries and cherries, with a rosehip finish and almond flavour (not as sweet as marzipan).

This is what happens when you put a conservation biologist behind a bar! Everleaf

Pour 50ml of Everleaf over ice, and top with 150ml of light tonic, and garnish with sliced strawberries.

Wilfreds Aperitif (created by an engineer after 100 experiments!)

Wilfred’s Aperitif is a no-alcohol tipple created by an engineer after 100 experiments, inspired by his worldwide travels. This ‘sunshine in a glass’ blends natural botanicals with bitter orange, aromatic rosemary, clove and a hint of rhubarb.

It also contains flavours inspired by his mother’s freshly-picked rosemary and his father’s homemade marmalade (bitter orange). Just 21 calories per serving.

Pour 50ml into a glass with ice, and top with 100ml tonic water. Garnish with a slice of orange.

Ginger London Mule

This is a like a no-alcohol alternative to Pimm’s, so ideal to watch the Wimbledon final! Just pour 50ml into a glass with ice, and top with 100ml of ginger beer, adding a squeeze of fresh lime. Garnish with a wedge of lime and slice of fresh ginger.

Wilfred’s engineering background created experiments to produce this lovely drink. But his inventive mind goes way back (as a child he built a pick-up device from wood to avoid having to pick up ping-pong balls himself!) After graduating in mechanical engineering, he then designed an artificial heart valve.

His travels took him from France to Argentina to Japan. And after creating drinks inspired by various places, he combined the recipes with his experience in engineering and business to launch the drink, which won a major award just three months after launch.

Talonmore (a no-alcohol whisky alternative)

Talonmore is a delicious ginger cinnamon warming drink inspired by historic Edinburgh. It’s also alcohol-free.

Use code englandnaturally for 5% discount.

Due to caffeine and high levels of ginger, this drink is not for pregnancy/nursing.

This family business blends Assam tea with ginger, prickly pear and hawthorn berry, for a fiery taste that replicates the ‘pleasant burn’ of alcohol, but without the alcohol. Designed to replicate whisky or rum, all packaging is easy to recycle.

Brewed with Scottish water, it contains notes of cactus juice, with fig and watermelon flavours. Once open, keep chilled (for up to 4 months). Serve neat or on the rocks, or warm on winter nights. 28 servings per bottle.

Almost half of people in England now opt for alcohol-free alternatives. Talonmore was voted the best no-alcohol spirit in blind taste tests by Good Housekeeping and Men’s Health.