Dry January – In Search Of
Already, there are a lot of non-alcoholic gin alternatives out there. However, until now I did not really find a suitable replacement for the gin in a no-ABV Negroni. This Dry January, I am reviewing the non-alcoholic spirits from the company behind Heimat Gin. On top of that, there is also non-alcoholic “Campari” in this recipe!
The non-alcoholic spirit Vogelfrei uses botanicals distilled with water rather than alcohol. The list of herbs and spices consists of juniper, lavender, lemon verbena, thyme and meadow clary. As usual, since the product does not contain alcohol, it needs a preservative and an acidity regulator.
A lot of sage
The Heimat Vogelfrei starts with a lot of herbal notes and a combination of sage and lavender. Obviously, you get the slightly thin mouthfeel from non-alcoholic spirits. Yet, with certain citrus notes and some thyme, the Vogelfrei is still quite flavourful. This way, the no-ABV spirit comes closer to regular gin as the other non-alcoholic spirits I tried so far.
Bitter grape juice
For the no-ABV Negroni variation, I combined the Vogelfrei with the Lyre’s Italian Orange. This non-alcoholic bitter reminds me of pink grapefruits, bitter oranges, gentian and San Bitter. Instead of regular vermouth, or its no-ABV version, I just used some high-quality grape juice. Inspired by the ingredients lists of the Vogelfrei I also used an acidity regulator in the form of verjus.
3 cl Lyre’s Italian Orange
3 cl Van Nahmen Dornfelder Grape Juice
0,75 cl Loimer Verjus
Garnish: Dried Orange Wheel;
Song: Miike Snow – In Search Of;
Right away, you notice that you are in fact not sipping an alcoholic Negroni. The drink does not have the “sharp” and bitter edge a regular one has. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the cocktail very much, its combination of herbal notes, smooth bitterness, citrus notes and fruity grape taste are more than intriguing. Furthermore, the verjus also adds a bit of contrast compared to the sweet notes of the bitter and the grape juice. All in all, this might just be my best non-alcoholic “Negroni” yet.
*The fact that I received a product reviewed in this article for free, did not – in any way – influence the rating of said product. The Vogelfrei was provided by Heimat Distillers.
