My favorite "spirit-forward" non-alcoholic drinks

Making boozy drinks without the booze? What about a zero-proof Martini? Challenge accepted.

There has been incredible progress in non-alcoholic spirits over the past few years. Bartenders have been able to easily craft excellent highball cocktails with carbonated mixers such as a classic gin & tonic or shaken, citrus-forward drinks such as a margarita using non-alcoholic versions of basic spirits such as gins, tequilas, whiskeys, and rums. While many spirits are pretty close to their alcoholic counterparts, they still fall short of the punch that actual liquor offers, and many zero-proof cocktails heavily benefit from the flavors and textures their mixers provide.

On the other hand, some of the most popular classic cocktails like a Negroni (and its many variations), the Old Fashioned, the classic Martini, or a Manhattan are all considered “spirit-forward” drinks, meaning they’re made pretty much exclusively with alcoholic ingredients. An Old Fashioned, composed of whiskey and sweetener, stirred over ice for dilution, is really just one step up from drinking a straight spirit. So do we have to just completely write off non-alcoholic versions of those classic cocktails until zero-proof spirits are completely up to par with their boozy analogs?

Of course this is a rhetorical question, you’ve all read the title of this post. So let’s just dive right into it: Here are some of my favorite alcohol-free “spirit-forward” products that I like to use for “stiff drinks” that don’t rely on mixers, and some ideas for drinks to make with these.

“Spirit-forward” non-alcoholic products

There are a handful of non-alcoholic products that I consider to be the Swiss Army Knives of zero-proof mixology. The Pathfinder is one of them. It’s a non-alcoholic amaro, i.e. a dark, bitter, herbal “liqueur” that is already beautiful when sipped on its own and adds complexity to pretty much any drink.