How Wirecutter Chose the “Best Non-Alcoholic Drinks”
Anna Perling did the damn thing!
Here we are. It's our third and final day of TASTING CONTENT. (I mean, this newsletter is always about taste in some way, shape, or form, but.)
We heard from Epicurious editor and drinks book author Maggie Hoffman, Delmosa CEO Bruce Blosil, and now it's time to check in with Anna Perling. A staff writer covering kitchen gear at Wirecutter (and a Substack author!), Perling put together "The Best Non-Alcoholic Drinks" list in January. Full disclosure, I was a resource for the piece, and I enjoyed speaking with Perling and reading her work so much that I thought I should turn the tables and interview her.
Wirecutter's style is to be explicit about the research that goes into its shopping guides, so while some of what you'll read here is also in the piece—Perling explains her criteria for "the best" in detail, for example—some of it is X-CLUSIVE behind-the-scenes intel.
Leggo!
Why did Wirecutter want to tackle this topic now?
We've started doing taste tests in the past year, which have been a fun and challenging twist on service journalism, and this was our first time covering the nonalcoholic beverage category. I always try to be more inclusive in my work, and I love that more people can enjoy these drinks.
As with everything I cover at Wirecutter, I put the reader first. That often means that I have to put aside my personal tastes, which is even harder when writing about food or drinks—the process gives me a chance to think critically and flex some different writing skills.
Once I started researching, I realized how big the category is and how much care is going into these drinks. The science and craftsmanship behind them are fascinating, and I wanted to find the best options for my own purposes and to share with our readers. After a surgery to fix a broken clavicle that resulted in nerve damage, I was on a lot of medication and didn't drink for four months. I still had that craving that a lot of people talk about, though: I wanted a drink to compliment meals, or for closure at the end of a long day. And I was excited to learn about some delicious nonalcoholic options beyond soda and bitters!
Also, [owner of the alcohol-free bottle shop Spirited Away] Douglas Watters, who I spoke to for the piece, made a good point: During the pandemic, people aren't going out as much, so they may have less opportunity to try something like this. A lot of these bottles are expensive and have complex ingredient lists, and more drinks are coming out all the time. It was appealing to me to help make the category more accessible if people wanted to shop online for something they couldn't taste in advance.
"Alcohol has a signature burn, difficult to replicate, that helps slow the drinker down." Do you think most of your audience for this piece is looking to replicate the experiences of drinking alcohol with their alcohol-free concoctions? For example, you say "glycerin or thickeners such as xanthan gum can mimic alcohol’s body." Is mimicking alcohol's body always the goal?
In short, no. The reason [my colleagues and I] chose to review these particular products is because they can stand on their own. They're unique beverages that don't always resemble alcohol, though some are marketed as such and, to us, some of them do. There's a line from the piece that of course got cut: “Not all NA beverages aim to be a simulacrum of alcohol, however. Many of the ones we tried are new drinks entirely, playing off these principles.”
This is a conversation that will evolve, but, yeah... Generally, we narrowed down what to cover in this guide by focusing on unique beverages that weren't necessarily aiming to mimic alcohol.
We also carefully debated how to talk about these products, and whether or not to couch them in alcohol-related terms. I did ultimately reference alcohol, but I also tried to include other tastes and references from different cuisines. We can never assume who our audience is, and that's something we wanted to keep in mind as far as the descriptions.
How many products did you taste in your research?
I tasted 24. Marguerite Preston, a senior editor on the kitchen team, and Marilyn Ong, a supervising editor on the team, both tasted 26. (They tasted [two flavors of] Bax Botanics, which I couldn't get in Georgia when we were working on the guide.)
To get to that list of 24 was a multi-step process. I first talked to experts, including you, John deBary, Han Suk Cho, and Douglas Watters. I consulted several books, including Zero: A New Approach to Non-Alcoholic Drinks by Grant Achatz, Allen Hemberger, Nick Kokonas, Sarah Hemberger, and Micah Melton; Liquid Intelligence: The Art and Science of the Perfect Cocktail, by Dave Arnold; Drink What You Want by John deBary; The Flavor Bible: The Essential Guide to Culinary Creativity, Based on the Wisdom of America's Most Imaginative Chefs by Karen Page; and On Food and Cooking by Harold McGee. I also looked at the online retailers who were selling nonalcoholic beverages like Drink No Low, Spirited Away, and Better Rhodes (who are in the US) and Master of Malt (who are based in the UK).
How did you decide what didn't make the cut?
It was really tough to narrow down what to taste! We focused on bottled beverages that could really stand on their own or with simple mixers, and we decided to skip nonalcoholic beer and most imitation spirits (thought we did end up testing a few of these). We cut the imitations spirits that would maybe need to be combined with other ingredients to make a more palatable drink—we were really looking for options with complex flavors that would excite people and that they could savor over time. For example, we cut Som Cordials, even though they're delicious, because they’re more like a shrub or syrup than other bottled cocktails or mixers we found with multiple flavors. We kept Curious Elixirs even though [each bottle is] only two servings because multiple experts recommended it. We eliminated all other single-serving drinks, as well as anything that wasn't readily available at the time of publishing.
Then we called them in, which involved each of us getting a bottle at our respective homes. Usually, with panel testing, we invite people to do a taste test in our office. Due to limitations of the pandemic, and because these bottles are pretty expensive, we kept it to the three of us. I miss normal tastings!
So, how did you evaluate each?
We tasted each on its own, chilled, and then we tried each in the most basic variation that the brand recommended. A lot of times that meant mixing the drinks with tonic or ginger ale or just adding ice. I tried each drink at least three times, and each of those times, I tasted the drink plain and then with a mixer. I armed myself with Carr's crackers and water to eat and drink in between trying each beverage, because there's definitely palate fatigue! I tried to space out the tasting to avoid that, sampling no more than four in a sitting and tasting multiple times over the course of a few weeks.
To collect everyone’s feedback, we worked with a big Airtable spreadsheet. We broke down criteria into smell, the taste of the drink on its own, taste with the recommended mixer, texture and mouthfeel, whether it tasted like the description, packaging and bottle design, and we did make note of whether it was reminiscent of an alcoholic beverage or it was more unique.
Overall, we placed a value on balance, uniqueness, and specialness (hard to qualify, I know, but we considered whether drinks felt celebratory). We also considered deliciousness, but of course that will be subjective. But I tried to consider how well-balanced the drinks were even if the flavors weren't appealing to me. Like the Rasavada Black Ginger, for example: It's more savory than something I would normally go for, but I appreciated it. The elements didn't seem like they were clashing with each other.
We also considered whether a drink was surprising or delightful. Maybe there was a spicy kick, like with Three Spirit Livener, which sent a jolt through my palate that was pure fun. (To me, this one tastes like a chili-dusted watermelon Jolly Rancher.) Or if something was tannic, like the Rasavada Rose Bergamot, which has a puckery, dry mouthfeel that made me want to keep drinking it.
Were all three testers also drinkers (as in, they regularly consume alcohol)?
This is a good point to raise... I’d love to include people who are exclusively non-drinkers in a future taste-testing panel if we expand our coverage. We all do drink, although none of us is a heavy drinker, and everyone has various experience in food service or covering restaurants: Marilyn was a restaurant reviewer in Beijing, Marguerite covered restaurants at Eater for years and has a background as pastry chef, and I have worked in various food service jobs and have written about food and lifestyle at Saveur and Kinfolk.
What has the response been like?
The main thing I read in the comments on our site is that people just want more insight: coverage on nonalcoholic beers, additional options, and where to buy outside of the US. So, it's been positive and people also want us to expand the coverage, which is cool. People really care about this category and I’ve loved contributing to the conversation.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Good Drinks paying subscribers get access to product recommendations and other super extra special stuff. Newsletter archives are here.
The Takeout's Allison Robicelli wrote about Proteau this week, and she really hit the nail on the head: "The fact that it’s non-alcoholic is irrelevant, because Proteau is not an alternative for wine, liquor, or anything else I can think of. Proteau is." Have a read.
Otherwise, until next month, be well. And remind your people that if their takes are bad…
...it’s not that hard to just…not tweet! xo