RITUAL ZERO PROOF Gin Alternative | Award-Winning Non-Alcoholic Spirit | 25.4 Fl Oz (750ml) | Zero Calories | Sustainably Made in USA | Make Delicious Alcohol Free Cocktails

Real talk, I get it, I admit it, I like booze. I'm an adult. After work, I like to make a drink, watch some YouTube on my big screen TV and unwind. Perhaps I'll run errands and wait until Friday, have some vodka & tonics and go to bed early. Who knows?While shopping for sandwiches at Sprouts Market, I saw a "mocktail" and said "hey, I'll try these!". However.. the action of filling a cup with ice, some vodka or gin and topping it with tonic water and sometimes a wedge of lime; that was what was missing.I like Tanqueray, so what? Well, THIS, THIIIIIS....this product, the Ritual Gin Alternative 0 Proof has STRONG scent and taste similar to the green bottled stuff. Now, I DO mix this a little stronger , so if Tanq is like 25% and 75% Tonic Water, I tend to mix a little heavier here, like 40% Ritual and the rest Tonic. After a few of these, my mind thinks I did the bad thing of drinking real alcohol because I got up and made a drink. I'm naturally tired because I didn't drink real alcohol. At an event recently, I had several drinks, I had 2 real gin & tonics and then 3 Ritual Gin and tonics.

I truly love what this company is doing by making zero-proof spirits, providing an alternative to alcohol. To be fair, I've tried the Ritual Rum which I'd give 4/5 stars. It mimics the smell, look, and taste of dark rum very nicely. Their tequila I'd give 3/4 stars, as it has a little "bite", looks and smells like tequila, but it is a little more watery. I bought the rum and tequila from different sources so I didn't review these two on Amazon.Now, the gin. This was the product I looked forward to most, since it's featured first on Ritual's website as award winning. Unfortunately, it fell far short in look, smell, and especially taste. Other reviews are correct in saying it has an odd taste which to me, doesn't taste like gin at all. I do not recommend the gin product at all.IMPORTANT TO KNOW: When buying directly from Ritual, they have a satisfaction guarantee on their website. I recommend buying directly through them. When you buy via Amazon, AMAZON WILL NOT LET YOU RETURN THE PRODUCT. This is not listed anywhere on the product description or ordering page. When I tried to return the gin, I fell into an infinite loop and could only resolve my issue via a chatbot. Refund is still pending.

I absolutely love this! Taste is like a real gin and makes the perfect mock tail.

Very herbal taste which I fortunately liked. Does not have a bite (or does not have one I could perceive) but was pleasant with tonic.

I enjoy gin for its complexity and variety. I love a good juniper-forward gin. I like my gin neat, in a dry martini, and I prefer a gin Rickey to a G&T, because I don’t want the sugar to overpower my gin. In an effort to cut down on my alcohol consumption, I explored zero proof “gin alternatives”. Most of them I did not like, and I’m sorry to say that Ritual is the one I liked least.I was a bit put off by the cloudiness and viscosity. And while I appreciate the juniper-forwardness of it, I found the pepper-as-alcohol-standin to be too clever by half. I like pepper, but I didn’t enjoy it here. I’m working my way through the bottle (nice think-glass bottle, btw) because I don’t want to east but the only way I ca stand this is with tonic and lots of lime. Lots and lots of lime.Honestly there is only one gin-alternative that I like, and I really like it. I won’t name it here, but I think what that one got right, and Ritual and the others get wrong, is that it doesn’t try to taste like gin. Only gin tastes like gin. The one that I like is gin-like in that it is a botanical distillate, only without alcohol. No hot-pepper burn, no pine or juniper, just a lot of flavor and complexity, and is perfect with club soda and a hint of lime, or even straight up with a twist and a dash of bitters.Different people like different things, so maybe you will like this. But I have to say that in trying to be too much like gin, Ritual makes a strange and not terribly enjoyable gloopy goo.

I was curious about products such as these. I followed several recipes and the subtlety of the flavors get lost. It’s not just this product. I tried three others and reached the same conclusion: if I have to add sugar, citrus, bitters, ginger ale, or any other strong flavor then I don’t need the subtlety of this product at least not at this price.

Let me start this with the fact that I am not a gin drinker. I like "gas station" beer and Barton's Vodka, so I'm def not an expert. I am trying alt-liquors in my quest to stop drinking, but still "trick" my tastebuds into something different. I enjoy the ritual of my after-work beer (or 6), so I am testing out new methods.The first taste was straight. I picked up a lot of pine, but others that tried it notice cucumber as a prevalent taste. It is complex enough that you don't feel like you're drinking cuke-water or soaked pine needles. I was not wild abou the tastet, but my friend who prefers fancy vodka liked the flavor and likened it to the Polish buffalo grass vodka.I mixed it with Chez Kroger-house brand club soda and added some lime juice. It was better this way and the pepper provided that heat that comes with spirits, albeit a different type of heat.My latest attempt was the best one, though. I mixed the Ritual Gin with pomegranate/blood orange/hibisus/rose kombucha I bought at a health food store. I heated the mix up and added some fresh lime juice. It was amazing! The drink made a tasty substitute for gluwein, without any heartburn, too!One caveat, however...the company had an online contest in January 2020 as a promo and a non-alcoholic bar won. That seems a bit shifty to me. Couldn't they just give the bar a bottle as a promotion and let individuals win? I took another star b/c that's shady and shabby.

I have a friend who cannot drink her cocktails any longer, and bought the bottle for her, but she’s enjoying it