Author: Kim Parsley

I was recently introduced to Mixly mixers and loved their versatility, whether used as flavorful ingredients in cocktails or simply added to tonic. Their Bitter Orange Cherry Spritz Mixer was just as fun to experiment with as their Pear Honey Vanilla Lime. Mixly’s website contains plenty of suggestions on single or batched cocktails to make with their mixers. I enjoyed 2 ounces of Mixly with plain tonic served on ice in a highball glass on days when I needed something to quench my thirst. Then, I was ready to experiment and wondered if it might make a good substitute for…

I am always on the hunt for a balanced, non-alcoholic white wine without the bubbles. While the NA beverage category continues growing, most alcohol-removed white wines seem carbonated. Why is that? Am I in the minority of people who don’t seek out bubbly beverages? Or is it a way to give body to a wine that can’t rely on alcohol? Regardless, I was excited to find a crisp and balanced chardonnay by Newblood out of Australia – no bubbles here! This wine has a bouquet of citrus and honeysuckle with hints of oak. Newblood promotes its triple-distillation process, including grapes…

Are you ready to start experimenting with creating your own non-alcoholic spirits or the next level of sophisticated NA cocktails? Then ZERO is your guide. If you’re starting off, and the idea of measuring out grams of gentian root sounds overwhelming to you, then you may consider this book aspirational and a beautifully photographed coffee table book. ZERO is written, photographed, designed, and published by a collaborative called The Alinea Group. The Alinea Group is a collection of restaurants based in Chicago that all share the desire to provide high-quality hospitality and a unique, memorable experience for their guests. Their…

My favorite hiking routine was sorely interrupted when I quit drinking alcohol. My ritual involved a weekly 4 to 8-mile hike in the North Cascades with a stop for lunch. And lunch always included a hoppy beer! The treat at the top kept me motivated to go up, and the beverage gave me a little buzz to distract me from my sore knees on the way down. So, it’s taken a bit of experimenting to find a worthy non-alcoholic substitute. And while Deschutes Fresh Squeezed Non-Alcoholic IPA doesn’t give me the same buzz, I am feeling good about my choice…

I used to turn to a gin & tonic when I wanted something to quench my thirst. And now that I’m no longer drinking alcohol, I am often offered a can of flavored seltzer. But honestly, I’ve never been a fan of fizzy water and have only found a few seltzers I like. I also love mixing cocktails and serving them in fancy vintage glassware. Dumping a can of seltzer in a glass just isn’t the same experience. So, I was happy to be introduced to Mixly cocktail mixers. My experimenting began with their Pear Honey Vanilla Lime flavor. Yum!…

I definitely miss whiskey since I quit drinking alcohol. But I’ve realized that I need to alter my expectations about finding an exact replacement for the whiskey I had become so fond of. First, the non-alcoholic whiskey substitutes aren’t necessarily designed to sip independently. And so far, none of my taste tests have yielded the same full mouth-feel or burn that whiskey provides. Okay, with that established, I set my criteria instead on something that will create a flavorful cocktail in the place of an Old Fashioned or in the place of a Whiskey Sour. Have you met Philters? This…

Suppose you’ve started to search for the perfect non-alcoholic cocktail recipe book. In that case, you’ve discovered many to choose from, with a range of complexities associated with the recipes within. I appreciate having a few to pull from, depending on my mood. If I want a basic cocktail, which I can likely create with the ingredients in my fridge, I go to Free Spirit Cocktails. If I’m feeling like a scientist and want to create my own NA spirit, I reach for ZERO. And when I want to create a classic cocktail, I flip open The Mocktail Club or…

My husband put together the menu and did all the cooking for our Thanksgiving dinner this year. I’m usually in charge of the cocktails, but he found this recipe for a punch, a riff on the Moscow mule. The ingredients sounded wonderful and would allow us to create something non-alcoholic that our guests could ‘fuel’ if desired. However, no one felt the need to add anything to this, and our family loved this punch! Jesse Szewczyk created this in Bon Appetit magazine, and I’m passing it on to you for your upcoming holiday gathering. Cranberry-Maple Mule 6-8 servings (We doubled…

Giesen Premium Red | Happy Every Hour Review Let’s start with the bad news first. Red wine was never on the top of my list. However, my husband appreciates big red wine, so I’ve had my share of sips and can distinguish what I find flavorful. It’s been quite a journey to find de-alcoholized wines that I like. But there is a growing list that I appreciate. Unfortunately, Giesen’s premium red does not make that list. Giesen’s range of wines are made in New Zealand to be 0% alcohol and low in calories. This family-owned business currently has seven styles…

I was recently asked to review the three BERO Brewing’s NA beer styles. I had not heard of them before the request, so I was curious to find out where this brewery called home and their story. Well, it turns out this brewery is backed and founded by Tom Holland. Maybe you recognize that name immediately, but I did not. Yes, it’s the English actor Tom Holland, best known for his starring role in the Spider-Man franchise. What’s that got to do with beer? I stumbled upon a wonderful interview with Tom on the Rich Roll podcast. In this dialogue, Tom discusses…

The De Soi, pronounced /de swa/, brand was created by two creative professionals who are busy moms. Katy Perry, the singer-songwriter, is one of those moms. They shared a love for a spritz but wanted something that wouldn’t impact their early mornings or long nights. Creating something focused on plants and feel-good adaptogens was on their list. The result is a line of non-alcoholic aperitifs. These are ready to sip, contain no artificial colors or flavors, and are gluten-free as well as alcohol-free (0% ABV). My review is for the Champignon Dreams flavor, which does not appear as an available…

When I first started exploring the world of non-alcoholic cocktails, I was pretty reliant on the recipes provided by the NA spirit brands. That was a great place to start, but I was ready to experiment beyond the brands. I discovered that the non-alcoholic cocktail recipe books were just as diverse as all other reading genres. There were detailed instructions on creating your own zero-proof spirits, complicated recipes requiring special equipment such as a centrifuge, simple recipes based on items in your pantry, and everything in between. So, I thought I’d start my reviews with a guide that has something…

I recently popped into my favorite Seattle non-alcoholic bottle shop, as I was overdue to chat with the owner about her new offerings. Kirstin Vracko of Cheeky & Dry was ready to walk me through her latest favorites in the spirits, beer, and wine categories. On this particular day, I was after something I could sip on at the end of the day—something versatile enough to allow me to experiment with some new NA cocktails. And then I met Gnista Floral Wormwood! Gnista is a beverage brand from Sweden. They offer red alt wine and alt spirits (their words to describe non-alcoholic…

If you’re exploring the wide range of non-alcoholic beverages and you happen to be a lover of hops, you’ve likely discovered a few options known as hop water. I honestly had a hard time distinguishing between hop water and NA beer when I first started looking into my options. As a fan of hoppy IPAs, I want to smell the hops in my glass before it hits my lips. So, of course, I was curious about this category. Hop water is a mix of carbonated water and aromatic hops (and sometimes additional flavorings). Whereas non-alcoholic beers contain the same ingredients…

As we roll into fall at my home in the Pacific Northwest, I’m trying to spend as much time as possible enjoying the outdoors before the rainy, gray winter hits. I’ve found a lovely companion for playing cards at the picnic table – Almost Zero Wonderful White! This dealcoholized wine, a sauvignon blanc, comes to me from the winery of Van Loveren in South Africa. It is created in the typical wine-making process, which yields an alcoholic beverage. It then goes through a spinning cone technique, which removes alcohol at a low temperature while preserving a balanced aroma and taste.…

You may have heard me say it before, but I’m a fan of creating cocktails. I like the experience of measuring out the ingredients, stirring or shaking and pouring them into vintage glassware, and serving them on a tray to my guests. So, I am typically skeptical of the idea of a cocktail in a can. But I also respect that we each enjoy the cocktail experience in different ways and have unique taste buds. So please take the time to explore the many non-alcoholic spirits and form your own opinions. But here, I offer one woman’s point of view.…

I’m excited to share another non-red and non-sparkling NA wine category find. Everyone has different tastes, so I always encourage you to experiment and decide for yourselves. The white zinfandel from Fre is on my go-to list when craving something refreshing and fruit-forward. This alcohol-removed wine is bottled in Napa Valley and contains grapes from California vineyards. I served this chilled, which brought out the flavors of strawberries. It has 70 calories and 13 grams of sugar per serving. Being labeled alcohol-removed means they created a balanced wine in the traditional process. Using spinning cone technology, they remove the alcohol…

The Ready-to-Drink beverage category continues to grow. While I enjoy the experience of creating cocktails (and have had some bad experiences with cocktails from the can), I found the Pari Modern Mule to be a wonderful beverage. I served this chilled with a healthy squeeze of fresh lime. I could envision drinking this all day – it’s well-balanced, not too sweet, and with just the right amount of carbonation. That’s an important distinction for me as I don’t typically like carbonated beverages (except my beers). But Pari has done a great job with this beverage! As you can probably guess,…

Due to my love of creating craft cocktails, I tend to avoid items in the ready-to-drink category. However, the convenience of these beverages is definitely a draw. Just pour. So, I ventured to try a non-alcoholic tea elixir. This one is a collaboration between Parch and Daybreaker and is known as Sunrise Supersonic (yeah, say that five times really fast). I always want to try beverages in their intended form so I chilled the can and tried this one neat, on ice, and then warm with milk. So versatile, eh? This tea elixir is combined with turmeric, cardamom, cinnamon, and…

When my cardiologist first suggested that alcohol was a trigger for my heart issues, I couldn’t help but think that those were nasty words. Quit alcohol? Forever? It was obviously my choice to navigate this based on input from an expert. However, I had decided that my ability to hike with my husband and continue running around with my granddaughters were the biggest priorities in my life, so I quit. And to quit meant to quit forever. That is where my journey began – mentally working through the idea of forever. Forever. This monumental amount of time. Having enjoyed the…

Just in time for the warmer months, I finally found a non-alcoholic white wine (no bubbles) that I like! I wasn’t asking for much, was I? I prefer dry white wine. I am not a fan of bubbles (except when they’re carbonating my beer). But I’ve had a heck of a time finding a wine that suited me. I added cardamom bitters to most alcohol-removed whites to balance out an unforgettable grape juice flavor. But I wasn’t going to give up. I was on a quest to find a suitable substitute as I enjoy the evening ritual of sipping a…

Those hot summer days call for an easy-to-make refreshing drink. Boy, how I found myself missing a botanical gin & tonic when I first cut out the alcohol! Luckily, I’ve discovered so many non-alcoholic gin substitutes that I can quickly quench that thirst. As a point of reference, I used to drink a clean London dry gin with cardamom bitters, St-Germain’s elderflower liqueur, and some premium tonic. That was my go-to G&T. Yum! So, if those flavors sound impressive to you, I think you’ll love these recipes. NA Citrus & Tonic Pour all ingredients over ice and stir. Gin-free &…

Summer is right around the corner for those living in the Northern Hemisphere. And if you’re like me, your drinking habits are about to shift with the warmer weather. Gin and tonics, mojitos, and citrus smashes come to mind. When I first started experimenting with non-alcoholic (NA) spirits, I came across Seir Hill’s rum alternative. I was very excited by this spirit’s ability to remind me of rum immediately. No doubt the balance of aromas and flavors hit you – specifically the sugar cane and caramel that you expect. This alcohol-free product, named Biscane, is dark in color, so I…