Non/Low alcoholic wines.

Ahleckz

Ahleckz

Ahleckz

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Joined
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There are a number of good NA beers (Lucky Saint, Guinness 0 and Northern Monk’s Holy Faith all deserve a mention). What about wine?

The trouble with NA beers is getting that body and weight that alcohol gives you. It’s getting better with the beers above almost solving it but has anyone tried any good NA wines?

I’m happy to pay a little bit for them, as I don’t trust the standard cheap NA plonk in supermarkets and worried it’ll be very sweet (like many of the NA beers - Heineken, I’m looking at you!). Interested in white, red and sparkling.

Also interested in the spirit side of thing. There’s seedlip and the Lidl knockoffs. Any good? Does it make for a passable g&t clone?

I’d put this in the wagon thread but there are people there who don’t want to drink NA stuff which is fair enough and reckon this may get more traction as NA isn’t just for those who don’t want to drink. Please don’t move!
 
I tried a lot of the NA wines and to be honest they are all rubbish and sweet. Wouldn't be so bad if they were cheap but they aren't! Reds are terrible, best one I found was actually a Sauv Blanc despite the fact I don't like a normal SB.
I haven't had a NA spirt that didn't taste like cordial either and that includes Seedlip and the other expensive ones. I was drinking some NA G&T's in tins made by a local company, so unlikely you'll be able to get them that were (relatively) low in sugar and they were semi passable. The Gordons low sugar one was ok too but frankly you'd be better off with a no sugar tonic and a squeeze of fresh lemon or lime imo.

I cant remember if this is the case in the UK, but in Australia companies only need to put alcohol volume on their drinks along with standard government warning. For the non alcs they have to put full nutritional info on the bottle such as sugar, carbs etc. They are all shockingly high in sugar which probaly isnt a surpise.
 
Seedlip is pretty good to me, but i'm not particularly a gin drinker. I've wanted to buy some of the Rum/Whisky offerings but the reviews all seem terrible and i don't fancy wasting £30 a bottle on something.

As for NA wines, i've not tasted any that weren't unpleasant. As said, they all seem overly sweet. Only tried Red ones though, not tried a sparkling option. Not seen any "premium" wines either, they're usually around the £5 mark whereas there seems to be more investment into the NA beers.

For the beers, i'd check out Leffe. It's by far the best i've had. I'd like to try the Athletic Brewing one, i listened to a podcast with the head brewer talking about they used a different method to most breweries to brew without the alcohol (i think), rather than removing it afterwards which seemed to make a better quality drink.
 
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I've tried a few NA wines but they're basically just grape juice and far too sweet.

You need the alcohol to cut through the sugar.
 
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