Whether you’re abstaining entirely or taking a hybrid approach, consider this your go-to guide to sophisticated sippers, minus the stingy tail.

That’s the spirit: full strength spirit-like creations you can sip straight or mix as you please

Best for nature lovers

Launched in NZ a decade ago, Seedlip was a pioneer in distilled non-alcoholic spirits, introducing a range of complex botanical-driven blends: Garden 108 – bursting with fresh green notes , citrus-forward Grove 42, and Spice 94.

Best for the pocket

Melbourne-based gin distillery Brunswick Aces calls its zero take on the spirit ‘Sapiir’ and makes it in various flavour profiles, including ‘Spades’, redolent with notes of green cardamom, fresh herbs, citrus, lemon myrtle, and Tasmanian pepper berry. I’ve frequently seen it on offer for less than $40 a bottle (at Gilmours in Auckland!).

Best for choice

Lyres’ range of non-alc spirits runs to an impressive 11, from Amaretto-ish to Whiskey-eque.

Best planty buzz

Hawke’s Bay-based Terps & Co calls on aromatic plant compounds called terpenes to rouse the booze-free spirit. Terpenes not only offer aroma and a resinous flavour, some studies indicate they can interact with brain cells to affect mood, increasing focus, or calming the nervous system. The brand’s Gin-Like, Tequila-Style and Rum-Esque are blended to taste like the traditional versions.

Best for a lighter buzz with full flavour

Blenheim’s Elemental Distillers make Roots, one of the best gins you can hope to crack into: it’s won big time awards like the actual World's Best London Dry Gin. More recently Roots Light joined the lineup, with a much lower ABV of 14% yet, it still tastes like your favourite London Dry thanks to groundbreaking double vacuum-distilled technology. A G&T made with RoLo clocks in at only 2%. I like to skip tonic here and opt for soda with a splash of Six Barrel Soda Co’s Rosemary & Cucumber Tonic Syrup – the result is less sweet, with the botanicals to the fore, particularly the Douglas Fir (an invasive pest of pine here in Aotearoa) which Elemental uses in a clever pest-control-meets-palate-pleaser move. The company is also B-Corp certified, operating from a distillery powered by the Marlborough sun.

*Terps & Co make zero-proof spirits, RTDs and functional sodas*

RTDs – pull the tab and go! Cocktails, seltzers and grown-up sodas

Best for that tingly warm feeling

The canned range boasts nine cocktails and a sparkling rosé riff, all containing the brand’s signature ‘Afterglow’ formula, which it describes as an “all-natural signature ingredient from New Zealand” giving a “tingly feeling and the warmth” that mimics the effects of booze without the downsides. (Is it some kind of pepper? If you can work out what it is, let me know.)

Best for a mood-shifter

Terps & Co’s RTD range includes Margarita Muse, Gin-Like & Tonic, and Monday Mule. If you’re not seeking to replicate a spirit taste, the brand’s Good Herb Sodas may be the ticket: sparkling herbal infusions bolstered wwith those same terpenes.

Best for fancy flavours

Black Doris Plum Margarita… Grapefruit, Cucumber & Mint Spritzer… Yuzu, Hawke’s Bay Lemon, Gin & Tonic… – local brand Finery’s zero cocktails and spritzers are built for sophisticates.

Best for ease

Naked Life non-alc canned cocktails and 750ml spritzes to share are stocked in supermarkets and liquor stores throughout the country, making it easy to make a booze-free decision.

Wine – not!

Whether wine made from grapes with the alcohol removed, or beverages made in the spirit of wine without a grape in sight – these are bottles you can confidently pop on a dinner table

Best for traditionalists

Alcohol balances acidity and bitterness and contributes to mouthfeel in traditional winemaking, so when it’s removed, producers often try to reintroduce its role with the addition of sugar or grape concentrate – and if you’re used to regular wine, you won’t be fooled and you will probably find the taste too sweet. Giesen has invested in ‘spinning cone’ tech for de-alcoholising, and its 0.0% range is a good one to explore, featuring sparkling brut, pinot gris, sauvignon blanc, riesling, rosé and merlot. Ara

Best for sophisticated tastes

Melbourne-born NON is crafted to offer an experience akin to wine, all about balance, complexity and texture, but it’s not made with grapes; the team of chefs combine ingredients like salted raspberry and chamomile to nod to rose, and, in the newest creation, blackberry and plum which is oaked to create that signature mouthfeel. If you put NON on the table you are the coolest kid at it.

Best fizz

Anthea is made in Riverhead by a winemaker who turned his talents to the quest for making drinks just as complex and delicious as wine, without the alcohol. The up-and-coming brand so far has two spritzes in its bottled range – think of these as replacements for rosé and brut bubbles. Your pinky pal Blush is crafted from Schisandra berry (described as sweet, salty, bitter, pungent and sour – there’s complexity right there), rosemary, lemon balm and thyme while Blanc features honeybush, chamomile and thyme and has a lovely crisp and dry finish.

Beer and cider – without the blurry goggles

Best for lager lovers

Most lagers don’t make my cut because of a telltale ‘malted barley sugar’ note left behind by residual sugars. But Peroni Nastro Azzuro 0.0% is a decent pick, so is Heaps Normal which sells phenomenally well in its home country, Australia. A tasty local option is State of Play Golden Lager.

Best for hazy heads, without a next-day hazy head

While lager struggles to shake off its booze coat, there are plenty of products in the hazy and IPA categories with alcohol content of less than 0.5%, that nail the flavour profile:

Garage Project blazed the trail here launching TINY four years ago, now in Hazy and XPA options. The brewery is renowned for its prolific output, having produced hundreds of beers over the years which makes it even more impressive that TINY alone now accounts for more than 20% of its production.
Bach Brewing’s All Day IPA and Hazy IPA are both bursting with tropical and citrus flavours with the requisite bitterness in place.
State of Play Nectaron Unfiltered Hazy Pale Ale is punchy, peachy and satisfying.
New Zealand’s only B-Corp brewery Sawmill Bare does a great job with Bare Pale Ale and Bare Hazy IPA.
Good George Virtual Reality Hazy IPA is redolent with hops, full-bodied and refreshing.

Best for choice

All of State of Play’s beers are 100% alcohol-free, made in Hawke’s Bay using all-New Zealand Motueka hops and malt from Canterbury. With a range featuring Golden Lager, Nectaron Hazy, IPA, Chocolate Sout and – perfect for summer – Sunbreaker Ale with ginger, lime and honey.

Best for fruity fiends

More and more zero ciders are popping up and a few favourites are Zeffer’s Crisp Apple and Passionfruit offerings, Morningcider Crisp Apple, Good George Black Doris Plum. If you’re after a crafty edge, try Peckham’s Apple Zero – it’s made the traditional way by fermenting heritage cider apples Kingston Black and Knotted Kernel and has the alcohol removed using swish technology. It has the characteristic barnyard funk flavour cider aficionados will love.

Bitters – without the bitter ending

Recently landed in New Zealand at Cook & Nelson, Seasn is the creation of Seedlip founder Ben Branson and a zero alternative to traditional bitters. Offered in a pair, Light and Dark, Seasn acts as the salt and pepper for your drinks – a few dashes adds complexity and intense flavour. Best trick up your sleeve.

Superstar Stockist: The Chiller

NZ’s largest store dedicated to non-alcoholic bevvies, The Chiller stocks more than 200 products from around the world.

Recipe: RoLo Midday Martini

A simple-as-it-gets martini method from Elemental Distillers’ founder and head distiller Ben Legget.

Instead of traditionally stirring down a Martini over ice to chill and add soft dilution, the RoLo Midday Martini requires no dilution, only chilling.

Mix Roots Light & dry vermouth at a 6:1 ratio. Chill it and serve straight from the fridge, garnished with a dry vermouth-infused olive or lemon snap.

“Using a light spirit means it’s not a drink that knocks your socks off the way a traditional martini can – this one’s only 14% so it’s a classic lunchtime cocktail without any guilt!” – Ben Legget.

Adapted from a feature by Anna King Shahab originally published in Viva‍   ‍

Low to No Booze, Plenty Choice