Searching for an alcohol-free drink alternative that tastes just like your favourite alcoholic drinks may feel akin to hunting for a unicorn. But, Free Spirit, Singapore’s biggest alcohol-free drink company, is out to prove that you can drink less alcohol without lowering your taste expectations.
Alcohol-free Wine That Ticks All the Boxes
One of Free Spirit’s founders, Rebecca Forwood, is a wine lover and was very choosy about which wines the NoLo bottle shop would stock.
Noughty alcohol free sparkling wine (pictured below) is one of the few that ticks all the boxes for her. The chardonnay is made from 100% Chardonnay grapes, grown in southern Spain, it’s fermented in stainless-steel tanks, just like alcoholic wine, and then is de-alcoholised by a process known as vacuum distillation. Afterwards, the wine is lightly carbonated to add a satisfying mouth feel. The resulting taste is fantastic, very similar to alcoholic wine, with far fewer calories and less sugar.
Another excellent alcohol-free wine worth a try is from NZ winery, Geisen. Well known for their sauv blanc, Giesen has also branched out into the 0% world, producing an alcohol-free wine that uses a spinning technology to remove the alcohol from their full-strength varieties. The result is a 0% wine that has all of the flavour and aroma of the original without the booze.
It Tastes Like Beer Because IT IS Beer
In the old days, it was common for regular breweries to create alcohol-free versions by boiling their beer to remove the alcohol, resulting in some pretty average tasting beers. These days craft brewers like Lucky Saint (pictured below) are exclusively alcohol-free and use cutting-edge brewing methods to create NoLo beers that taste like the real thing.
The founder of Lucky Saint moved to Germany to study the process of making beer for 12 months and develop the best method for creating really good alcohol-free beers. They brew their beer traditionally, age it for 6 weeks to let robust flavours develop and then use vacuum distillation to remove the alcohol. Lucky Saint is now available in Writers Bar at The Raffles.
Alcohol-free brewers like Drop Bear Beer (pictured below) and Nirvana (pictured below) use the same ingredients as alcoholic beer - grain, hops, yeast and water to brew their beers with all of the flavour and none of the alcohol. They tweak things along the way to limit the formation of alcohol.
For example, they might use less malt, so there’s less fermentable sugar, change up the temperatures, or employ a ‘lazy yeast’ that ferments the brew in a way that produces less alcohol. Where some companies tend to add sugars on the backend to artificially improve the flavour, Nirvana doesn’t add anything extra to their beer - it tastes just like beer without any extra help, because it is beer.
Alcohol Free Gin to Add to Your Home Bar
After finding success in the craft gin business, successful UK-based Salcombe Distilling Co branched out into distilling alcohol-free spirits. New London Light was the first product that they created, an alcohol-free gin that tastes just like the real thing, with none of the bad stuff, and only 3 calories. The 0% ABV product is made by distilling juniper berries, ginger, and habanero peppers with the addition of a whole array of botanicals chosen for both flavour and health benefits. This gin-alike is a must have if you love G&Ts!
Alcohol-Free Drinks Put To the Test Against Alcoholic Drinks
Alcohol-free drinks aren’t just finding fans among teetotalers anymore. Time and time again, the best alcohol-free drinks are winning awards, even when put head to head with their alcoholic counterparts.
Athletic, a head-turner in the alcohol-free craft beer circle has won awards at three major beer competitions - the Great American Beer Festival, the World Bear Awards and the US Open Beer Championship. Meanwhile, Fungtn Lions Mane IPA won UK Bronze in the IPA category of the World Beer Awards, a contest where they competed with alcoholic beers, not only other NoLo alcohol beverages. Big Drop has also received high accolades in the USA Beer ratings, and not just in the categories reserved for alcohol-free beers.
Nothing to Lose but Your Hangovers
If you’ve been curious about how alcohol-free drinks measure up, then it’s time to give it a try. Free Spirit carries Singapore’s largest collection of alcohol-free beers, wines and spirits delivered home in Singapore. You’ve got nothing to lose but your hangovers.
Shop Now: https://www.freespirit.com.sg
