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.
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