Non-alcoholic Cocktails

Non-alcoholic cocktails and other zero-proof drinks are made to take the place of wine, beer, spirits or cocktails, and on US labels they stay under 0.5 percent alcohol by volume. The group includes dealcoholized wines, botanical aperitifs, sparkling teas, fermented drinks and ready-made zero-proof cocktails.

How to choose Non-alcoholic Cocktails

  • Non-alcoholic or alcohol-free. On US labels, non-alcoholic allows a trace, below 0.5 percent by volume, and alcohol-free means no detectable alcohol. UK rules let alcohol-free mean up to 0.05 percent, so read the strength on imports.
  • Dealcoholized or alcohol-removed. The drink was made as real wine or beer first, then had the alcohol taken out. Federal guidance calls the term misleading if the result is above 0.5 percent.
  • Low or reduced alcohol. These are different terms. On US beer labels they mean under 2.5 percent, roughly half the strength of a regular 5 percent beer, so they are not zero-proof.

About Non-alcoholic Cocktails

In the US, non-alcoholic drinks are held to a simple line: less than half of one percent of the drink by volume can be alcohol. Federal wine labeling rules cover wine of 7 to 24 percent alcohol. Below that, a dealcoholized wine is labeled under food law, and its name must be followed by a statement giving the under 0.5 percent figure.

The styles differ in how they get their flavor. Dealcoholized wines start from fermented grapes, kombucha from sweetened tea fermented with yeast and bacteria, and shrubs from fruit and vinegar. Serve each one the way you would the drink it replaces, in the same glass and at the same temperature.

At a glance

Also called
Zero-proof drinks, NA drinks
Label terms
Non-alcoholic, alcohol-free, dealcoholized, alcohol-removed
Main types
Dealcoholized wine, aperitifs, sparkling tea, kombucha, shrubs

Non-alcoholic Cocktails questions

Is kombucha a non-alcoholic drink?

Usually, but not always. The yeast and bacteria that ferment kombucha can keep working after the bottle is sealed, slowly making more alcohol. If it reaches 0.5 percent alcohol at any point, federal law treats it as an alcohol beverage. If any trace of alcohol matters to you, skip kombucha and other fermented drinks, since fermentation is what makes the alcohol, and read the label on everything else.

How does a non-alcoholic drink compare with a standard drink?

A US standard drink carries roughly 14 grams of alcohol. That is what you get in a regular 12 ounce beer at 5 percent, or in a 5 ounce pour of 12 percent wine. A 12 ounce non-alcoholic beer just under 0.5 percent carries about a tenth of that. One labeled alcohol-free in the US carries no detectable alcohol; a UK alcohol-free label allows up to 0.05 percent.

How do you use a shrub in a zero-proof drink?

A shrub is fruit syrup sharpened and kept with vinegar, a habit from colonial kitchens. Stir about a tablespoon into a tall glass of sparkling water over ice for a quick drink with real bite, or use it as a cocktail mixer. A refrigerated bottle keeps up to six months.

Sources: US Food and Drug Administration; Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau; National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

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