Non-Alcoholic Spirits Archives - First Pour Cocktails

Free Spirits: The Spirit of Milano

Posted on January 14, 2024 by Nick

There a lot of reasons people avoid alcohol, but there’s certainly an influx of individuals in January thanks to the growing trend of “Dry January”. While many spirits that try to impersonate other spirits suffer from their mimicry (looking at you Ritual Zero Proof Whiskey), amaros and other things that don’t directly try to be something they’re not tend to do well. We of course had a great time with Lyre’s Italian Spritz, so how does a homegrown offering like Free Spirits: The Spirit of Milano do?

Free Spirits: The Spirit of Milano

Made from water, sugar, natural flavor, fruit and vegetable juice (for color), and some stabilizers, preservatives, and vitamins, The Spirit of Milano is definitely lower calories than it’s alcoholic cousins. So does it taste as good?

Nutrition Highlights (per 1.5 fl oz):

Calories: 15
Total Sugars: 4g (Includes total added sugars of 4g)
Vitamin B3: 4.8mg
Vitamin B6: .51mg

Sight: A ruby red that fringes on cranberry.

Smell: The nose has a distinct spice of cinnamon with hints of cloves. The rhubarb plays the primary here, but the bitter orange is present and winds around in a nicely complex way. The nose has that bitterness of an Amaro, though it does suggest it’s a touch sweet.

Sip: The start is bright with bitterness hitting the outside of the palate. The flavor of rhubarb is the lead that could be mistaken for cranberry thanks to the quickly evolving orange and cinnamon. It gets slightly sweet, but not overwhelmingly so. There’s also a solid amount of body (moderate) without being cloying from sugar. As it continues or you take more sips, more of those cinnamon notes come out, and there is a little hint of spiciness.

Savor: The finish carries it’s bitterness, but gives pleasant nods the clove, bitter orange, and spice.

Free Spirits: The Spirit of Milano is a nice substitute for an amaro. It offers a decent amount of complexity, showing off fruitier notes with a good bitter undertone. There’s some sweetness, but not enough to overwhelm the amaro. The biggest short fall here is a lack of depth and complexity, but that’s forgivable if you’re not trying to analyze this deeply as you’re drinking it (or combine it with other things – like juices, bitters, or sodas).

In Cocktails

In a Highball, Free Spirits: The Spirit of Milano works well, providing a lay of spices and fruitiness that you would expect from an amaro. The flavor feels like a complex spice and herb syrup added to cranberry juice. The result is something easy to sip that pairs well with a number of foods, and looks great in the glass. Again, the same shortfall exists here, where you may want just a little more flavor, but you could easily add some bitters from Fee Bros (which are not alcohol based) or a homemade vanilla syrup. This will also cover some of the lighter body notes.

In Review – Free Spirits: The Spirit of Milano

Free Spirits: The Spirit of Milano is tasty, and priced comparably to an amaro like Campari. The biggest downsides here are complexity and longevity (with no alcohol – this will last best in the fridge for about 3 months after opening), but these are relatively minimal issues with a non-alcoholic spirit. The flavors are clean, crisp, and well balanced. If you’re looking for something to substitute to alcohol free, this is a good choice in this space and it is available at Amazon* for about $37 dollars at the time of publication.

* – This link is an affiliate link which may result in us getting a partial commission from the sale. In 2023 we made $28.17 from affiliate links and made $1.09 so far in 2024, while we’ve spent well over $200 on just webhosting. Help us keep the lights on if you like our content, and please use our links!

Lyre’s Italian Spritz

Posted on September 10, 2023 by Nick

There’s no denying there are plenty of reasons someone might choose to abstain from alcohol. Thankfully, the market is increasingly moving toward options for those that want to enjoy the complex flavors of spirits without the effects of alcohol. Every year, the number of products on the market increases, and to be honest, not all of them are good. Among the many makers on the market, few seem to have the breath of products that Australia’s Lyre’s has. Given how hard it is to replicate base spirits, I wanted to give Lyre’s fair chance with something that isn’t trying to emulate an existing product. Hence, starting with Lyre’s Italian Spritz.

Lyre’s Italian Spritz

Ingredients: Water, Sugar, Natural Flavor, Phosphoric Acid, Preservative: Potassium Sorbate, FD&C Red 40, FD&C Yellow 6.
Proof: 0 (A.B.V. 0%)

Sight: An orangy- reddish hue with a slightly pinker tinge. Clear throughout. It is color adjusted with FD&C Red 40 and Yellow 6.

Smell: The nose has a candied orange smell with touches of floral orange blossom, clove and bitters. There’s an herbal note to it. There’s a candied red hot spice to it, and some blood orange juice note.

Sip: The flavor has a candied sweetness mixed with a bracing herbal bitterness. The sweetness is layered with notes of orange, herbal notes, touches of spice, and more candied citrus elements. The flavor is very reminiscent of Aperol.

Savor: The finish is bittersweet but balanced with plenty of citrus and spicy herbed notes. The finish lingers with a quinine like note, and the sugary character layers for a good duration.

Lyre’s Italian Spritz does a convincing impersonation of an Italian aperitif like Aperol. The bittersweet character nails the meal leading liqueur flavor, and feels balanced. It’s candied like character is slightly sweet at moments, but it feels well constructed. It does like a little weight at moments, but could be convincing as though it were a real aperitif.

In Cocktails

In a simple Highball, Lyre’s Italian Spritz has a light body, but feels lower on sweetness. The result is very clean with orange flavors (blood orange, naval, and clementine) coming forward with lots of herbal notes and hints of bitterness. Good complexity, and very easy to sip. The only slight downside is not a lot of weight.

In Review – Lyre’s Italian Spirtz

Lyre’s Italian Spritz is a convincing substitute for an aperitif. Of the non-alcoholic spirits, this segment seems the easiest to replicate, containing flavors that are not specifically liquor driven. The flavors aren’t quite as complex though, suffering some losing some of the wine based notes of some aperitifs. All that aside, Lyre’s is really good overall, and if you’re looking not to drink, or just want to tune down your ABV this is a very good option that happens to last up to 3 months.

While at the time of writing, Lyre’s Italian Spritz was out of stock at Amazon*, we recommend continuing to check back (as this is where we got it for about $35)

Ritual Zero Proof Whiskey Alternative

Posted on October 19, 2020 by Nick

Happy Sober October everyone, hopefully it’s going well for everyone participating. Alcohol is a unique substance that has shaped and driven the creation of entire civilizations. It has a ritualistic place in many aspects of society ranging from toasting to transubstantiation. Yet, there is no denying that alcohol is at best slightly beneficial in moderation (unless of course you’re enjoying mild ciders or beers that are safer than the water which might contain diphtheria, but this isn’t particularly likely in modern times). As such, many people have started to look at both the health implications and the role of alcohol in our society differently.

And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that.

With that frame up, many individual producers have started to produce alcohol substitutes. The efforts of producers to do this range from pressurized removal of alcohol through using distillations at lower temperatures to making custom mixtures of non-alcoholic (zero-proof) products. Amongst these products is Ritual Zero Proof Whiskey Alternative.

Ritual Zero Proof Whiskey Alternative

Ritual Zero Proof Whiskey Alternative attempts to recreate the character of whiskey through natural flavors – suggesting things such as American oak, Madagascar vanilla, capsicum fruit, hemp leaves, and much more. It’s worth nothing the first two flavors are filtered water and inverted sugar. Added into the mix are xanthan gum, citric acid, sodium benzoate, and potassium sorbate. It is not clean label, but these are food safe preservatives.

Sight: A lighter tone of honey.

Smell: There are some heady herbal notes that fight with the vanilla, oak, spices, and fruitier notes. There’s something disturbingly herbal and musky in the nose. Touches of something tangy and acidic smelling in the nose. The nose is strange, pungent, and aggressively fruity and like a candied soured sugar.

Sip: It starts sweet, with notes of something fruity and herbal. The palate then washes toward mineral like, picking up ashes and burned oak with lots of spice. There’s something spicy here like a hot pepper.

Savor: The ending has a touch of tannin, but is mainly spicy, herbal, and kind of almost pickled in a strange way. It lingers kind of ashy, kind of herbal, somewhat spicy.

Ritual Zero Proof Whiskey Alternative is definitely an alternative to something. I’m not sure it’s whiskey though. The flavors are pungent, disparate, and occasionally unpleasant. I understand the general idea of where this product is going, it needs some burn like booze, a bit of weight, and then the sweet sugary smokiness of a mash and barrel. Ritual Zero Proof Whiskey Alternative tries to recreate this, and ends up being a stunning caricature of what whiskey might taste like if described by someone who had never had whiskey, but only had it describe to them.

The hardest thing to stomach about Ritual Zero Proof Whiskey is the herbal, ashy aftertaste that lingers for what seems like an eternity. It does not leave pleasant notes of toasted oak, caramel, and preserved fruit that a traditional whiskey might. Instead it leaves this sickening, macerated leaf flavor that’s wrapped in a cinders and ash. All tied up with a strange hot pepper spiciness (capsicum?) and a subtle bitterness.

In Cocktails

If you’re wondering – it is not any better in a cocktail. Making a manhattan (with admittedly full fledged Vermouth) ends up being slightly better. The flavors of the vermouth and the bitters help level out the elements of herbal character. The sweetness however, is full frontal and unpleasantly – almost juice like. What’s most strange is the odd burning that comes from the capsicum.

I’d bother making an old fashioned – but can’t figure out why you’d add sugar to this for any particular reason.

Overall Impressions

I’m excited for the point where there are solid, strong alternatives to traditional booze. They are undoubtedly healthier and better for consumers in the long term. Ritual Zero Proof Whiskey Alternative however, is not that product. This one is a hard pass for all but the most desperate.

If for some reason you would like to purchase a bottle – here is an Amazon Affiliate link that we may receive some commission on (which will help pay for buying this bottle).

For more info – here’s Ritual’s website.