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 spirits). Gnista describes their spirits as complex and intense, meant to be sipped neat or used as a base in cocktails. They use classic spirit-making techniques reliant on distillation, brewing, and barrel aging.
Floral Wormwood is described as bitter and intense and is a potential replacement for vermouth. I didn’t come to that conclusion after tasting it or working with it in cocktails. However, I loved its taste as I sipped it cool. The list of ingredients includes rhubarb juice, sugar beet syrup, dried spices, and infusions from almond, orange, oregano, juniper, and more. No doubt the ingredient testing took some time before this amazing balance was achieved. I felt a little aftertaste of caramel when I sipped on this. Yum!
Then I went down their list of suggested cocktails and very much enjoyed the Alvine Sour and Ginger Buck. I was curious about their variation of the Sazerak, but it wasn’t my favorite. Note that their ingredients are measured in centiliters (cl) as a Swedish product. Lucky for me, I have a collection of jiggers of various measurements for just this occasion! If you don’t have a measure for centiliters, you likely have one for milliliters (ml). This will be more exact than converting to ounces. I did a variation or two when creating my recipes, as I didn’t have all of their suggested ingredients handy. Be sure to try the Ginger Buck as captured on Gnista’s website or with my variations below:
Gnista Floral Wormwood Recipe:
- 3 cl Gnista Floral Wormwood
- 3 cl lime juice
- 3 cl ginger simple syrup
- 2 dashes of Bittercube Jamaica No. 2 bitters (note that this brand is not alcohol free)
- Add all ingredients to a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake until chilled and strain into a glass. Top up with club soda.
Ginger simple syrup:
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup peeled and sliced fresh ginger
In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine sugar and water. Stir until dissolved, then add ginger. Bring mixture to a low boil. Remove from heat and let steep for 1 hour. Using a strainer, strain the syrup into a jar and discard the solids. Store in the refrigerator.
All of Gnista’s alt spirits are created to have less than 0.4% alcohol by volume, which meets the US guidelines of “non-alcoholic.” They suggest storing their products out of direct sunlight and that an opened bottle will have the best aroma within the first 4 weeks after it’s opened. But check the “best before” date to confirm the product’s suggested shelf life. I’m excited to try Gnista’s other spirits! Skol!
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