How to find an alcohol-free drink that still hits the spot

I occasionally get asked why I don’t give more negative reviews – that is, ones that warn readers off the bottles I think are unpalatable or poor value for money. My usual answer is that there’s too much good stuff around (and not a lot of space to write about it), so I’d rather focus on drinks that are worth buying.

In the much smaller market of no- and low-alcohol drinks, however, those rules don’t really apply. There’s a lot of innovation and experimentation going on right now and, because a fair number of new producers are jumping on the bandwagon, not all of them have nailed it.

Alcohol-free wine is an obvious case in point. If you enjoy wine, they’re simply not going to cut it for you: I keep trying, and I keep being disappointed. If you’re less picky than I am, however, you might enjoy Oddbird Blanc de Blancs (£9.99 Amazon, 0%), which is at least vaguely vinous, but to be honest I’d rather have a glass of kombucha or sparkling tea, such as the Saicho I mentioned a year ago or the Real Royal Flush in today’s pick.

At the other end of the spectrum, there is a great deal of more than decent alcohol-free beer around, my latest find being Butcombe’s, which should appeal to those who find beers described as craft a bit too full on. It’s reasonably priced, which is more than can be said for a lot of the new alcohol-free spirits and aperitifs, some of which taste positively unpleasant on their own. I know that’s not how you should drink them, but if you have to drown something with tonic and garnish it with citrus to make it vaguely palatable, you might as well save yourself a few quid and drink just the tonic. (I exempt my favourites Pentire’s Adrift and Sipsmith’s Freeglider from these strictures, and can recommend the interesting Fluère and Wilfred in today’s panel, although “Would you like a Wilfred?” or “Do you fancy a Fluère?” are not the kind of invitations that trip easily off the tongue.)

I also find the ecospeak about some of the latest entrants to the market pretty hard to swallow, among them Ful’s “powered by climate active nutrients” (why would you want a drink that’s Haribo blue, though?) and Bemuse’s “specially selected honey from planet-positive beekeepers” (I guess all beekeepers are planet-positive, so they don’t have to look that hard, but maybe I’m being mean: it’s drinkable at least, so hallelujah for that.)

Five decent drinks to get you through dry January

Butcombe Goram IPA Zero £14.45 for 12 x 330ml bottles butcombe.com, 0.5%. Yet another properly good AF ale to add to your arsenal, made in a more classic style than many craft beers.

Bemuse Hops Sparkling Low-Alcohol Mead £3.30 for 330ml lowandnodrinks.co.uk, £19.90 for 6 cans bemuseddrinks.com, 0.5%. Pleasant, gently sparkling honey drink. The hops are barely detectable by today’s standards, but offset the sweetness nicely

Real Non-Alcoholic Sparkling Kombucha Royal Flush £8 for 750ml Sainsbury’s, £48 for 6 realkombucha.co.uk. Like sparkling tea, a good stand-in for champagne or other bubbly. Delicately fruity.

Wilfred’s Bittersweet Orange And Rosemary Aperitif £18 for 50cl The Alcohol-Free Co. If you don’t like cloves, you probably won’t take to this bittersweet aperitif, but I have to say it’s right up my street.

Fluère Smoked Agave Non-Alcoholic Spirit £20 Amazon, £24 Harvey Nichols. One for the budding mixologists among you. A really interesting AF “spirit” with a smoky, mezcal-like character.

• For more by Fiona Beckett, go to matchingfoodandwine.com