Soft drinks can be delicious, prove it with these 6 innovative brands

Will the start of the school year be crazier without alcohol? For many reasons, one may want to cut back, quit, or have never consumed alcohol. In addition to the idiots who ask you 36 times in the same evening” Are you sure you don’t want to taste? Come on, just a drop, you’ll see it’s delicious! Roooh, you’re not funny (while they’d better question their inability to have a great night out for lack of booze…), you may also be challenged by a lack of quality, not necessarily sugar-filled options. Fortunately, the non-alcoholic sector is developing, and is now competing in flavors and ingenuity.

Overall, the non-alcoholic category grew by +8% in 2022 and will continue on a growth trajectory of +7% by volume by 2027 (when it is expected to account for around 2% of the total global Alcoholic beverage market), according to IWSR, the leading source of data and analysis on the alcoholic beverage market. Performance in 2022 was led by non-alcoholic beer, which grew 8% in volume in 2022, and non-alcoholic spirits, which grew nearly 22% in volume (on a modest basis), according to this database. According to the latter, in fact, in all key markets around half of alcohol drinkers say they want to moderate their consumption. Here’s a sampling of 6 brands that are changing the No/Low game (those that consume little or no alcohol).

Niets Co and its non-alcoholic liqueurs

To create quality liqueurs, distilled in the traditional way, but still 100% non-alcoholic, this is the ambition easily picked up by Niets Co. Founded in London in 1898, the company experienced a long hiatus before being reborn from its ashes in 2018 to offer something to compose more than tasty and sophisticated cocktails. Its know-how places it today among the leaders in the No/Low sector. In addition to the rosé or white sparkling wine, Niets Co offers a traditional dark liqueur, distilled from sugar cane and aged for 5 months in oak barrels, like the best aged rums but in a non-alcoholic version, which obtained a silver medal at the prestigious European Spirits Challenge 2022. But it is above all its gins, the Original where slightly thyme, rosemary and citrus notes prevail, and the Ginger-Yuzu, where ginger brings the right amount of spice, to stand out.

MIKKS and its ready-to-dilute mixers

You can love drinking cocktails or mocktails, but hate making them or don’t know how to make them. Fortunately, there are alcohol-free solutions, such as MIKKS. Created by 3 friends (a chef, a bartender and a graphic designer), the Zurich brand offers small 25 cl bottles of concentrated flavors that you just need to dilute with still or sparkling water (or alcohol, but that’s not the subject of this article) to prepare delicious non-alcoholic cocktails (which you can obviously enrich by adding your own sauce or combining them, for example). One bottle can be used to make 6 cocktails or mocktails and can be kept fresh for 4 weeks after opening, which is always good to know if you haven’t planned on drinking the whole bar in one evening. Basil-lemon, Yuzu-elderflower, passion fruit-lemon, mint-ginger, coffee-cocoa or bitter lemon: you’ll be spoiled for choice.

JNPR and its liqueurs 0% alcohol, but 100% emotions

It was during a trip to the United States that Valérie Oudinot de Sutter discovered the breadth of the offer of soft drinks, with sophisticated natural ingredients, which sparked in her the desire to create her own distillery. His meeting with the renowned bartender Flavio Angiolillo helps him realize in 2020 his ambition of creating alcohol-free and sugar-free liqueurs but full of flavors, based on juniper berries (juniper in English, which shows the brand name in an abbreviated version without vowels).

Thus was born JNPR n°1, fresh and herbaceous, concentrated on the taste of juniper berries; JNPR n°2, spicier thanks to the notes of allspice and ginger; and now JNPR #3 with light vervain accents. A bitter full of aromas of gentian, cinnamon and bitter orange, soberly named BTTR n°1, completes the JNPR collection and is perfect for making cocktails such as the Negroni or the Americano.

Impressive for the quality of their distillation, these new generation liqueurs make it possible to create real taste experiences for sober people, with the same know-how, high standards and research as those who consume alcohol. We also appreciate their packaging which is always chic to offer to a person who is entering sobriety or is already well established in it. In addition, JNPR also offers a “non-alcoholic 9 months (and more) kit”, an ideal gift for a pregnant or nursing woman who loves cocktails: there is JNPR n°2, sugar-free and made in Normandie cans, and ebooks of cocktail recipes and pairings with good food.

The inimitable taste of Suze’s gentian in small non-alcoholic bottles ready to drink

In early 2023, Pernod Ricard France launched a ready-to-drink non-alcoholic version of its famous Suze Tonic cocktail. We find there all the taste of the yellow gentian liqueur created in the 19th century, obtained from the roots of this wild plant plucked by hand in Auvergne, and distilled in copper stills, but in a non-alcoholic version, precisely that sweetness is needed to compensate for the size bitter. Now, it is easily found on the market, in packs of 3 bottles of 25 cl, which can be very practical and original (unlike beer), to bring back to friends for an impromptu aperitif, or to store in your pantry.

Festilant and its non-alcoholic sparkling wines

When you are told about still wines or non-alcoholic sparkling wines, you may have bad memories that come back in your mouth and in the memory of too sweet drinks, Champomy style. Fortunately, the shelves of soft drinks have changed a lot in recent years, as evidenced by the Festillant brand in particular, which is quite easily found in stores. With more than fifteen years of experience in non-alcoholic wines, the French expert in non-alcoholic still or sparkling wines currently offers a beautiful box in collaboration with the young ceramist Juliette Clavières, La Festi Color Box. There is the Festillant rosé with notes of raspberry and gooseberry, the Festillant blanc with hints of citrus and exotic fruit, and the Festillant rouge with aromas of berries, accompanied by three assorted cups. What to compose the perfect aperitif.

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