Dry January is over, but each year, we discover more and more non-alcoholic drinks that are worth enjoying all year long.
Whether we’re talking about N/A beer and spirits, zero-proof cocktails or “mocktails,” or CBD and THC alternatives, there are an increasing number of drinks available for those who are sober-curious. The best feature of these options is that they’re not just an alternative reserved for teetotalers, as they can be enjoyed alongside alcoholic beverages as well. Hydrating between your booze is crucial, so why not reach for a St. Agrestis Phony Negroni or a refreshing BERO N/A beer in addition to some H2O while you’re pacing yourself? Better still, you can mix many of these offerings into a cocktail of the N/A or alcoholic variety, giving them the added appeal of versatility.
But we’re jumping ahead, so let’s dive right in and talk about the best non-alcoholic drinks we discovered during Dry January!
10. Ritual Zero Proof Rum
ABV: 0%
Average Price: $30
The Drink:
Ritual Zero-Proof Rum, featuring 1-2g of sugar, is a rock-solid alternative to rum. Intended to be a 1:1 replacement in cocktails, this drink also works well on its own when chilled.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: The nose on this imitation rum features some great vanillas and caramel tones, with some ginger candy, coconut, and a hint of molasses.
Palate: On the palate, this stuff almost passes for the real thing! Like most N/A alternatives to spirits, it lacks the viscous texture of well-made rum, but despite the overall dilute nature of the flavors, it is flavorful.
Finish: The impressive finish has a bit of black pepper and candied ginger, which helps it pass the test as an efficient rum alternative.
Bottom Line:
Ritual has been one of the more successful N/A spirits brands on the market, and in their entire lineup, we found that Ritual Zero Proof Rum does the best job of replicating its alcohol-based counterpart. Furthermore, it’s just as enjoyable as its own thing, making it a cool option for drinking on the rocks and using as a mixer in rum-based mocktails.
9. WhistlePig Sex, Drugs, Rock & Dry
ABV: 0.5%
Average Price: $50
The Drink:
Let’s state upfront that this drink does have 0.5% alcohol, which means that despite being north of 0%, it’s legally permissible as an “N/A” drink. With that out of the way, it’s clear that WhistlePig focused on replicating the flavors in a whiskey-based cocktail for this one. Featuring a 100% Rye Non-Whiskey, the brand’s signature Barrel-Aged Maple, adaptogenic Cordyceps shrooms, and damiana — a wild shrub native to Central America — this is one intriguing blend that will indeed affect you.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: The nose is full of stone fruits, ginger, orange rind, and clove. Overall, this one casts instant intrigue as a mocktail, and you’ll want to dive right in after an initial whiff.
Palate: Woah, this is tasty stuff on the palate! It totally springs to life with citrus and candied ginger taking the lead, while the flavor of maple syrup does some serious heavy lifting as well. The sweetness doesn’t come across as artificial at all, and actually, it’s really refreshing.
Finish: The finish is brief and sends you on your way with some more maple syrup and citrus notes — nothing to write home about, but certainly not bad.
Bottom Line:
While this one leans heavily on the 100% rye non-whiskey, which means it prominently features ginger as a replacement for alcohol’s signature bite, the supporting flavors are impressive enough to overcome this imbalance. Indeed, after a few sips, once your palate acclimates to the flavor profile, this is an incredibly crushable cocktail alternative for sober-curious sippers.
8. Seedlip Garden 108
ABV: 0%
Average Price: $32
The Drink:
Seedlip Garden 108 features a blend of peas and traditional garden herbs straight out of Scarborough Fair, like rosemary, spearmint, and thyme.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: The nose opens with those alluring garden herb aromas, with rosemary and spearmint featured lightly, while black pepper, thyme, and fresh peas are a bit more vivacious and apparent.
Palate: On the palate, Seedlip Garden 108 is super crisp with a lovely, slightly viscous texture. The herbal, hoppy note hits the tip of the tongue and introduces a bit of lemon zest to go with the rest of the garden herbs and baking spices.
Finish: The finish is a bit prickly, which is a good thing as it mimics the texture of alcohol on your tongue. It’s full of more rosemary, black pepper, lemon zest, and thyme for a satisfying send-off you’re sure to enjoy.
Bottom Line:
Seedlip is making some of the best N/A products on the market, but their N/A Gin is easily the best in its lineup. Flavorful and full of expressive botanicals that all work well together in harmony, this is a drink that we can’t limit to Dry January enjoyment.
7. BERO Noon Wheat
ABV: 0.38%
Average Price: $16 six-pack
The Drink:
BERO is a brand-new N/A beer brand founded by sensational actor Tom Holland. To help with the project, he enlisted brewmaster Grant Wood, who has over 40 years of experience during previous stops working on Sam Adams, including on their vaunted Utopias and Angry Orchard Cider. Wood crafted three flavors for BERO fans, and the Noon Wheat is our favorite.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: The nose is slightly hoppy with lemon zest, malted barley, and cereal grains standing out immediately. It’s an inviting nose that effectively captures the essence of the genuine article.
Palate: This N/A beer has a super crisp body with slight citrus tones and a great, austere texture. It begins slightly fruity before cereal notes begin to dance all over the tongue. To shoot it straight, this definitely tastes like real beer — and a good one at that.
Finish: The succinct finish is really crisp and refreshing, making this a super crushable can of beer. Thanks to its N/A status, I can easily see a 6-pack of these babies disappearing quickly!
Bottom Line:
BERO is one of the newest brands on this list, but what they lack in experience, they more than make up for in effectiveness. We drank a ton of N/A beers in January and even featured them as a beverage option at the UPROXX “LA Check In” Grammy weekend event. It’s been a hit for us, just as it was a big hit at the event, so it’s safe to say we’ll definitely be enjoying it all year long.
6. Athletic Brewing Run Wild IPA
ABV: 0%
Average Price: $14 six-pack
The Drink:
Athletic Brewing is the preeminent N/A beer producer in America, and our preference in their lineup lies with the Run Wild IPA. Brewed with a blend of five Northwest hops, it has a refreshing yet approachable bitterness that authentically imitates the real thing.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: Run Wild IPA opens with a strong hop presence and a light, underlying acidity in the form of lemon rind and apricots. There’s a bit of pine and malted barley on the nose as well, and overall, it does a fantastic job of giving off the authentic aromas of an IPA beer with alcohol.
Palate: Wow, this is refreshing on the palate. It’s hoppy and features a big citrus kick, but both tones are balanced and set against a backdrop of malted barley, dilute honey, and hay. It has a nice, medium-bodied texture and a twinge of bitterness from the yeast that, again, helps it imitate the sensation and flavor profile of authentic alcoholic IPA beer.
Finish: The finish is where the acidity kicks up a bit, as the citrus and yeast bitterness balance each other out on its way down your palate.
Bottom Line:
Here’s a secret: N/A beers are probably the most true-to-their-counterparts zero-proof drinks on the market. Athletic Brewing’s lineup just goes to show how authentic N/A beers can taste, and for us, their Run Wild IPA is the best of the best.
5. St. Agrestis Phony Negroni
ABV: 0%
Average Price: $63 twelve-pack
The Drink:
The St. Agrestis Phony Negroni is so popular as an N/A dupe that it almost has as many acolytes as the real Negroni. Developed and bottled in Brooklyn, NY, the Phony Negroni is made with 30 non-GMO, organic ingredients, including cane sugar from the Caribbean.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: The nose rings true! That signature herbal bitterness stands out as you pick up on the juniper, citrus notes like blood orange, and the faintly floral aroma of lilacs and rosewater.
Palate: On the palate, this truly has the full-flavored taste of an authentic Negroni. The structure of the liquid’s body is a shade leaner than one might expect, but otherwise, the balance of botanicals and semi-bitterness with a touch of citrus comes together with great harmony.
Finish: The finish is lingering and flush with that herbal and baking spice semi-bitterness in the form of thyme, black pepper, juniper, and blood orange.
Bottom Line:
The St. Agrestis Phony Negroni has become a bar staple at this point, thanks to the fact that it works fabulously well as an N/A Negroni substitute. It maintains the flavor and the “spirit” of a real Negroni without including the actual spirit in a Negroni. This is pretty much the gold standard for N/A RTD cocktails.
4. WYNK Black Cherry Fizz
ABV: 0%
Average Price: $36 six-pack
The Drink:
WYNK Black Cherry Fizz is a THC- and CBD-infused seltzer. With a refreshing yet flavorful profile, fun branding, and a 1:1 ratio of THC and CBD, it’s a balanced drink you can easily enjoy in moderation.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: Yup, that smells like a flavored seltzer. While the nosing notes aren’t really applicable here, it does have a sweet fruitiness that doesn’t come across as artificial, which is a plus.
Palate: On the palate, the flavors are really crisp and balanced. The black cherry notes are juicy and ring authentic without leaving that dissatisfying muddled cloying sweetness that you can get from other artificially flavored beverages.
Finish: Not much to speak of, here, it’s a flavored seltzer! The best thing we can say is that it has little to no finish, which works in its favor as a refreshing drink.
Bottom Line:
With a 1:1 ratio of THC to CBD, WYNK’s drinks give you a mellow and balanced head feel, which will keep you lucid enough to be the life of the party while uplifted enough to enjoy every minute of it. This one was a great alcohol alternative for us doing Dry January, but with that 1:1 balance, we have a feeling we’ll be enjoying it for the rest of the year too.
3. Lyre’s G(in) & T(onic)
ABV: 0%
Average Price: $18 four-pack
The Drink:
This RTD mocktail starts with a base of Lyre’s Dry London Spirit and adds tonic water for a zero-proof take on a Gin & Tonic. The results are an alcohol-free, gluten-free, and vegan-friendly refreshing mocktail.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: The nosing notes open with orange blossom, jasmine, and black pepper, with a touch of lemon zest and even juniper. It’s a surprisingly on-the-nose, refreshing take on a G&T that captures its essence well.
Palate: On the palate, you most definitely get the taste of quinine first, but the N/A gin punches through as it transitions to midpalate and the finish, picking up flavors like jasmine, tangerines, allspice, and candied lemon peels.
Finish: The finish is brief and crisp, leaving you with the flavor of quinine, black pepper, and candied lemon peels, with faint botanical notes lingering until it fully recedes.
Bottom Line:
Lyre’s G & T is pretty much the industry standard for RTD N/A cocktails, and for good reason, because it tastes great. This drink is super refreshing and a delicious stand-alone beverage, making it an excellent option for sober sippers and spirits enthusiasts alike.
2. Nowadays Micro Dose
ABV: 0%
Average Price: $40
The Drink:
Nowadays Micro Dose is a tasty tropical drink with 2mg of THC infused in every 1.5oz serving. That minimal dosage and fun flavor profile give it versatility in mixed drinks, as you can enjoy more of the flavor with a lower concentration of its mind-altering effects.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: The nose is full of tropical fruits like pineapples and coconuts, with some lemon zest and agave syrup. Overall, it’s light and sweet, similar to a lemon drop shot but with an infusion of tropical fruit.
Palate: On the palate, all those flavors from the nosing notes spring into action, heavily emphasizing the pineapple chunks and a more restrained showcase of coconuts and lemons. It has a medium-bodied texture, which gives it an extra bonus as a mixer.
Finish: The finish lingers a short while, and if you search hard enough, you can pick up traces of the THC, but overall those hints are faint, and the tropical flavors remain in the foreground.
Bottom Line:
Nowadays Micro Dose is such a tasty drink on its own, but due to its restrained dosage, it’s also a ton of fun to combine with other drinks for cocktails and highballs if taking shots isn’t really your style. It’s that tasty flavor combined with its unrivaled versatility that makes it one of the best N/A options on the market, and definitely one of the best THC-infused offerings.
1. The Pathfinder Spirit Hemp and Root
ABV: 0%
Average Price: $40
The Drink:
The Pathfinder is a drink fermented from hemp, pot-distilled, and then blended with wormwood, angelica root, ginger, sage, juniper, saffron, orange peel, wild-crafted Douglas-fir, and natural terpenes. The results taste similar to a robust and flavorful amaro.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: The nose opens with an ebullient pine note, reminiscent of laying under a Christmas tree, anticipating gifts that The Pathfinder is eager to open for you. Those gifts present themselves as cola nut, cinnamon bark, rhubarb, and brandied raisins. It’s an alluring blend that works well and passes the smell test as an amaro alternative.
Palate: On the palate, this one is flush with pine notes and allspice, but that initial kick parts the curtain for more nuanced, and still forceful, flavors to enter the fray. Candied ginger, juniper, cinnamon bark, and rhubarb stand tall as the full-bodied beverage washes over your palate, coating your tongue with its pronounced flavor layers.
Finish: The lingering finish closes on an overtly herbaceous note, with a touch of brown sugar, licorice, sweet raisins, and black pepper balancing themselves on your palate until the last drop is gone.
Bottom Line:
This is definitely a drink for Amaro fans, but it also works particularly well as a mixer in N/A and alcoholic beverages alike that call for the Italian liqueur. During Dry January, this is the non-alcoholic drink I found myself savoring above all others, and now that the first month of 2025 is over, it’s safe to say this is the one I’ll be enjoying most frequently all year long.