Best Dry January Drinks To Try 2024: Non alcoholic beer, wine and mocktails
/A new list of fresh options for 2024
Welcome to the sober curious revolution, not just a new year’s resolution!
As January unfolds, you’re joining an increasing number of individuals embarking on the annual journey known as Dry January, a month-long commitment to abstain from alcohol (and possibly try some non-alcoholic drinks). This movement has gained significant popularity in recent years, with lots of people embracing the opportunity to reset their bodies, minds, and habits after the indulgence of the holiday season.
Dry January is not merely a trend but a conscious mindful drinking choice and no doubt you’re one of the people seeking a healthier lifestyle, improved sleep, enhanced mental clarity, and the potential for weight loss that comes along with this.
One of the challenges during Dry January is finding non-alcoholic drinks that are both satisfying and interesting. From artisanal mocktails to alcohol-free craft beers and inventive non-alcoholic spirits, the market has responded to the growing demand for sophisticated alternatives. A month without alcohol doesn't mean a month without indulgence, so let's delve into the diverse world of non-alcoholic beverages to find the best Dry January drinks and keep your taste buds intrigued. Cheers to a month of clarity, health, and exciting Dry January drink alternatives!
Table of Contents
Before Getting Started
A few rules of thumb for making life easier:
Use proper glassware, specific for whatever you’re drinking - wine gets a wine glass, sparkling wine gets a champagne flute or coupe, cocktails get a rocks glass, a coupe or a tumber (whatever you have on hand) and if you’re drinking beer, try and pour it into a pint glass for the full experience.
Use bitters in your wine - if you’re finding your non-alcoholic red wine too flat, use a few drops of bitters. It’s still considered non-alcoholic.
Treat this like a project and invest in cocktail and bar equipment to make mocktails with. It keeps it fun for the whole 31 days when you have Amazon deliveries to look forward to!
Ice dilutes your alcohol, but you don’t want your n/a drinks diluted too much. Use square ice if you can, in your glass and in your shaker!
Non-Alcoholic Wine Recommendations for Dry January
Non-alcoholic wines are getting better and better every year. Here are five new(ish) wines to try in Dry January 2024 that taste great and won’t remind you of grape juice!
Lautus Savvy Red
Lautus Savvy Red is a hidden gem amongst non alcoholic wines. This dealcoholized wine has tannins, which is rare in a dealcoholized wine, so this is a big reason it's a class favourite. Lautus Savvy Red has a perfect balance of dryness and fruit making this an extremely well composed wine. You'll find blackberry, oak and a hint of black currant on the palette, with a nice balance of fruit and gentle tannins.
Read our full review and tasting notes here.
Available in the U.S. through Better Rhodes, Drink No/Low and Boisson. In Canada, you can find it at most non-alcoholic online retailers. Find the list here.
Wander + Found Cuvee Blanc
This is a perfect blend of white grapes in a non-alcoholic wine format. Chardonnay, pinot gris and pinot blanc from German vineyards combine in this lovely, crisp white wine that begs for a second glass. It’s one of the best we’ve tried, and is one of those bottles that could pass for regular wine.
Available in the U.S. through Better Rhodes, Drink No/Low and Boisson. In Canada, you can find it at most non-alcoholic online retailers. Find the list here.
Leitz Eins Zwei Zero Riesling
This is a great non alcoholic option, one of the best non alcoholic wines out there. Produced at the heritage Leitz winery in the Rhineghau region of Germany, the Eins Zwei Zero Riesling is a classic off-dry Riesling. It has a beautiful elegance that we call the Audrey Hepburn of non-alcoholic wine - it doesn’t hit you over the head like some other non alcoholic wines trying to prove they are a wine, it just is a good wine.
Read our full review here.
Widely available in the U.S and Canada.
Be Well Cabernet Sauvignon
Be Well Cabernet Sauvignon is an excellent wine for the price point and is probably our favorite bottle of the year. Found at Total Wine across the U.S. this red wine has a flavor profile you'll be obsessed with. It's nicely balanced with notes of dark cherry and red fruit, without being too juicy or ‘grapey’. It’s got just the right amount of everything, including a tiny hit of cocoa powder and black pepper on the finish. It tastes like it's been aged in french oak (but we can't verify that). For a wine with less than 0.5 alcohol in it, it sure tastes like its alcoholic counterparts.
Lyres Classico
For a brand that makes non-alcoholic spirits, the Lyre’s Classico is actually a superb non-alcoholic sparkling wine. It’s crisp but mellow at the same time, and flavourful enough to use in champagne mocktails. Plus David Guetta is a brand ambassador so it has a cool factor the brand has paid big bucks for!
You can find Lyres online at Lyres.com.
Alcohol-Free Spirits To Make Mocktails With In Dry January
Distilled non-alcoholic spirits, otherwise known as zero proof spirits, have come a LONG way. In fact, there were no non-alcoholic spirits a decade ago. In the past few years, innovation has created alcohol-free spirits in every category and for most non-alcoholic cocktails. Here are a few that we can’t live without on our dry bar!
(see below section for recipes to use these zero proof spirits in!)
Lyre’s Italian Spritz Spirit
This is hands down the only non-alcoholic spirit that is a true dupe of Aperol. Lots of other brands have tried to make an aperitif that can twin with the well-known brand but only Lyre’s has succeeded. What can you make with this? An aperol spritz mocktail, a winter spritz with pomegranate, a grapefruit spritz with some grapefruit soda (easy peasy!), a Paper Plane….You can even just mix it with sparkling water and a dash of blood orange juice. The list goes on and on! Available through Lyres.com worldwide.
Sobrii 0-gin
Non-alcoholic gin is a dime a dozen these days, but only a few of them really stand out. Sobrii 0-gin is made in Canada, and is a herbal and pungent gin that stands up in a cocktail and doesn’t let you down. Citrus is usually a killer of the muted complexity of non-alcoholic spirits, but not Sobrii. If you want a true gin experience without the alcohol, this is your best bet.
Runner up: Free Spirits Spirit of Gin
Ritual Non-Alcoholic Tequila
Although this isn’t the best non-alcoholic tequila, it's by far the easiest non-alcoholic tequila to access in the U.S. (harder to get in Canada - HP Agave is the next best thing for you). It’s available at every Total Wine and now available at Walmart too. It’s great in mocktails and you can use it for everything from a simple Margarita to a more complicated cocktail.
Runner Up: ISH Mexican Agave Spirit
Spiritless Kentucky 74
This is by far the best non-alcoholic bourbon on the market. It’s a high-quality product with a smooth finish, underpinned by familiar notes of caramel, vanilla, and oak. It works well in non-alcoholic versions of classic cocktails of any type, and can practically be drunk on its own. Their spiced cinnamon style is also good for winter-themed cocktails.
Runner Up: Free Spirits Spirit of Bourbon
Dry January Inspired Mocktail Recipes
1. Grapefruit Aperol Spritz
The bitter orange of non-alcoholic aperitifs is a great partner to grapefruit soda, and they're also easy to find both online and in-stores. This recipe is so simple and an easy first choice for anyone just starting out with Dry January - you don't need a shaker for this one! You can use Lyre's Italian Spritz alternative, or Dhos Bittersweet or our favourite Abstinence aperitif and FeverTree Grapefruit Soda is a great shortcut for real grapefruit juice.
Find the recipe here.
2. Gin Rickey
If you've already tried a gin and tonic with non-alcoholic gin, this is a good second recipe to try. It's similar to a G&T but uses club soda instead of tonic water. This is actually a better option for a basic non-alcoholic gin drink as it really let the flavour profile shine through without the quinine bitterness.
1.5 oz non-alcoholic gin (Sobrii 0-gin, Free Spirits Spirit of Gin or Monday zero proof gin)
.5 oz lemon juice
club soda
Use a glass that's smaller than a tumbler but bigger than a rocks glass, so you get a good ratio of gin to soda (a gin rickey is smaller than a Collins).
3. Classic Margarita
Non-alcoholic tequila makes the tired old 'virgin margarita' new again. It adds smoke and heat to what is usually just ice, salt and lime juice (or margarita bar mix). Here's a basic recipe, adjusted for alcoholic spirits. We recommend using Ritual Tequila Alternative, HP Agave or ISH Mexican Agave Spirit as your zero-proof tequila alternative.
Find the full recipe here.
New & Tasty Pre Made Mocktails for 2024
There are the usual suspects of canned mocktails that have been around forever, but here are five of the best canned mocktails we’ve tried in 2024:
Crisp & Crude
Crisp & Crude use a unique blend of juices, flavours and botanical extracts called Terpenes to help the drinker feel ‘mellow’. It comes in three flavors: their Paloma Daydream blend is by the far the best tasting, nicest feeling and lowest in sugar mocktail in a can we’ve ever had. The Mellow Yellow style is also a super flavourful blend that left us feeling calm and peaceful. There is nothing not to love about these cans!
Parch Prickly Paloma
This luscious, juicy and spicy drink is everything we’ve ever wanted from a mocktail in a can. Although it’s slightly high in sugar, the flavour packs a huge punch. It’s a citrus and bittersweet cocktail that showcases the lively pairing of agave, prickly pear cactus fruit, citrus, floral-tart hibiscus and desert botanicals. Worth investing in a four-pack of this or their other flavour the smoky and spicy spiced pinarita.
Mocktails Espresso Martini
It’s really hard to make a non-alcoholic espresso martini. Without the alcohol, you might as well just drink espresso with cream. Thankfully, the OG Mocktails brand, founded in the UK, created a lovely version that uses a nitrogen capsule to foam your drink as you pour it just like the team at Guinness do with their creamy stout. Available worldwide through various retailers.
Kin Euphorics
A power-packed combination of adaptogens and botanicals have made a range of incredible products from Kin Euphorics that both taste completely strange and unique and hit you somewhere in your nervous system. L-theanine, reishi, lions mane and ashwaganda all combine in various formulations to help you calm down, feel happy or get energized. It’s somewhat of a placebo as you don’t really feel physically different in a huge way, but drinking one and then driving down a busy street with Bob Marley on the playlist and the sun coming in through the sunroof sure makes a winning combination!
Gruvi Sangria
This canned sangria won double gold at the IWSC Low/No Awards competition in 2023, and rightly so. It’s a beautiful, mellow and festive blend of spices mixed with a great non-alcoholic red wine. Slightly more mulled wine than sangria, when it’s chilled it really doesn’t get better than this!
De Soi Euphorics
Katy Perry walks the walk by co-creating this delightful line of adaptogenic drinks with Morgan Mclachlan. Similar to Kin Euphorics, the enticing combination of herbals and adaptogens are blended with natural ingredients to create a beverage line that tastes good but helps your mood, energy and focus.
Top Non-Alcoholic Beers to Try this Year
Non-alcoholic beer has always been at the head of the line when it comes to making great drinks without any alcohol. Alcohol-free beer has been around for decades but the new breed of craft brews available as a non-alcoholic alternative are plentiful.
Athletic Brewing Co. Non-Alcoholic Craft Beer
Athletic is the king of the hill when it comes to non-alcoholic craft beer. From juicy hazy IPAs to golden lagers, ABC has nailed the ABCs of dealcoholizing beer. It's also our #1 pick for non-alcoholic craft beer because you can find it everywhere across North America. For a list of where to find Athletic, visit their Where To Find Us page.
Guinness 0.0 Dealcoholized Stout
This is as close to the real thing as you can get. The Guinness team in Ireland has mastered the art of cold filtering to maintain flavour and mouthfeel while removing the alcohol. Even if you don't like stouts, you need to try this to experience what a perfect non-alcoholic beer can taste like.
Read contributor Liam Ford's life changing Guinness 0.0 moment.
Corona 0.0 Sunbrew
Corona doesn’t disappoint with the new Sunbrew 0.0 non-alcoholic beer. It’s crisp, pours golden amber in colour with a honey sweetness that helps offset the mild bitterness. And like its alcoholic cousin, it’s perfect with a slice of lime. It’s also only 60 calories a bottle so, how can you go wrong?
Read our full review here.
Final Thoughts
There is no shortage of drinks you can drink during Dry January, and still enjoy a grown-up flavour and experience.
