Whether you’re expecting, dieting, or sobering up, alcohol-free beverages can feel pretty limiting at a bar or BBQ. As the days get hotter, sometimes you just want a booze-free drink that doesn’t taste like a juice box. Since alcohol dehydrates you and hydration is the key to staying cool in the heat, here are three new non-alcoholic options on the market that your grown-up taste buds will love.
Brooklyn Crafted Ginger Beer (4 for $7): What we love about this non-alcoholic, spicy ginger beer has everything to do with the simple and chemical-free ingredients list. It’s filled with carbonated water, pure cane sugar, 100 percent fresh ginger, organic ginger extract, and citric acid. Each drink has about 120 calories and 29 grams of sugar, or if you want to go low-cal, its sugar-free beverages are made with stevia leaves and have 5-10 calories and 0 grams of sugar for a 12-ounce bottle.
You really can taste the difference between this and other ginger beers on the market. There are even unfiltered ginger pieces that you can actually see in the bottle. They come in 12- or seven-ounce bottles in flavors including classic, extra spicy, lemon-lime, mango, and even Earl Grey. Not only is this a refreshing summer drink, it’s also an effective natural remedy for a stomachache or hangover.
Brooklyn Crafted also offers some great mocktail ideas like its Brooklyn Palmer, which mixes the Earl Grey flavor with lemonade and garnishs it with a lemon. Or the Ginger Grapefruit Mocktail, a blend of fresh grapefruit juice with its Extra Spicy Ginger Beer, garnished with mint and a grapefruit wedge.
Curious Elixirs ($35 for 4 bottles): When soda isn’t cutting it, there’s always a bottled mocktail. Curious Elixirs are booze-free, ready-to-drink craft mocktails made in the Hudson River Valley from organic juices and spices with no added sugars or preservatives. Co-founders John Wiseman and Ashley Simon developed the brand after they wanted to cut back on booze yet sip on something as complex as a craft cocktail.
Currently, they have two cocktails: No. 1 is a take on a pomegranate Negroni, made from orange juices, lemon peel, and even bitter orange extracts. No. 2 launched this summer, and it’s like a spicy margarita meets a dark and stormy, with pineapple, lime, orange, ginger, jalapeño, and ancho.
Each serving (there are two in a bottle) has 85 calories and 18 grams of sugar. Drink them directly from the bottle, or you can pour into an Old Fashioned glass filled with ice and garnished with an orange slice.
Vita Coco Sparkling ($2): Vita Coco Sparkling launched this summer, and good thing it did, because it fuses your love of coconut water with sparkling water (yay so trendy!) The drink comes in Grapefruit, Lemon Ginger, Raspberry Lime, and Pineapple Passionfruit. Made with real coconut water (minus all the usual sugar), each can has 280 milligrams of electrolyte potassium, only four grams of sugar, and 25 calories, making this drink diet-friendly. We loved the Lemon Ginger and Raspberry Lime the most.
Though we think these drinks have enough flavor as is, turn them into mocktails by adding some pomegranate juice, pomegranate seeds, mint leaves, and skewer of raspberries, lime, and mint leaves for garnish.
What’s your favorite beverage to cool down with on a hot day? Let us know on Twitter!
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(Photos via Brooklyn Crafted, Vita Coco Sparkling, and Curious Elixirs)
