The gin and tonic is one of Britain’s great rituals. Ice, a decent glass, a crack of the tonic cap, a slice of something fresh. It’s less about getting drunk and more about the moment itself. And the good news? The alcohol-free versions have finally caught up.
A few years back, your only option was flavoured water with juniper pretensions. Now you’ve got proper distilled botanical spirits, big-name 0.0% gins, and craft alternatives that genuinely hold their own in a G&T. Some of them are brilliant. Some are still a bit rubbish. Here’s what’s actually worth buying.
The Big Brand 0.0% Gins
These are the ones you’ll find in every supermarket, and they’re a perfectly solid place to start.
Gordon’s 0.0% Alcohol-Free Spirit is built on the same juniper-led recipe as the original London Dry. It smells like gin, it looks like gin in the glass, and with a decent tonic and a wedge of lime, it makes a very convincing G&T. The juniper is front and centre, with citrus peel and a clean, dry finish. At Tesco it’s been spotted as low as £5.50 (likely a reduced bottle), but typically runs £10-15 across the supermarkets. ASDA, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, and Waitrose all stock it. There’s also a Gordon’s Premium Pink 0.0% with raspberry, strawberry and redcurrant layered over the botanical base, at similar prices. And if you want zero effort, the Gordon’s Alcohol Free & Tonic with Lime cans (4-pack around £4-5.50) are genuinely good for a quick drink without any measuring or mixing.
Tanqueray 0.0% takes a slightly different approach. It’s distilled from the same four botanicals as the classic London Dry: juniper, coriander, angelica root, and liquorice. The result is a touch more herbal and complex than Gordon’s, with a subtle warmth that comes close to mimicking the mouthfeel of actual spirit. It’s around £12 at Tesco, £15-18 elsewhere. There’s also the Tanqueray Flor De Sevilla 0.0%, which wraps Seville orange around the botanical backbone. It’s lovely with an orange-peel garnish and Mediterranean tonic, sitting at £15-18.50 across most retailers.
Beefeater 0.0% rounds out the big three. It’s made from botanical extracts rather than distilled spirit, with juniper and citrus doing the heavy lifting. A bit more straightforward than Tanqueray but solid in a tonic. Around £12.75-16.50 at Amazon and Ocado.
Botanical Spirit Alternatives
This is where it gets interesting. These aren’t trying to be gin exactly; they’re building something new from botanicals.
Seedlip started the whole category back in 2015 and is now owned by Diageo. They make three expressions: Spice 94 (allspice, cardamom, oak, citrus), Garden 108 (peas, hay, spearmint, rosemary, thyme), and Grove 42 (blood orange, mandarin, lemon, ginger). None of them taste like gin, and that’s the point. They’re their own thing. Spice 94 is the closest to a G&T experience: warm, aromatic, and genuinely complex with tonic and a grapefruit twist. Prices have come down a bit, with Amazon listing them from around £18-21 and Ocado at £26.50 for the 70cl bottles.
Ceder’s is another excellent choice, made with South African botanicals from the Cederberg Mountains. Ceder’s Classic is the most gin-like of the three, with juniper up front and rooibos and geranium adding warmth underneath. Ceder’s Crisp brings cucumber, chamomile and juniper together for something lighter and more refreshing. ASDA has them at a genuinely impressive £7-13.30, making them some of the best value botanical spirits around.
CleanCo Clean G is the one to try if you want something that tastes properly like gin in a G&T. Built on juniper, citrus peel and classic botanicals, it’s designed specifically to work as a 1:1 gin substitute. The flavour is spot-on for a London Dry profile. ASDA and Tesco stock it from £10, Sainsbury’s and Ocado around £16, and the specialist shops at £20. The Clean G Rhubarb is a decent pink gin alternative too, with soft fruit tartness over the botanical base.
Lyre’s Dry London is the Australian entry that’s won serious awards internationally. It brings juniper, citrus, and floral botanicals together in something that has notably good body and mouthfeel for a non-alcoholic spirit. Around £24 on Amazon, with Dry Drinker and The Alcohol Free Co at £27.67.
Craft and Premium Picks
For those willing to spend a bit more for something special.
Sipsmith FreeGlider comes from one of London’s best-known craft distilleries. It’s built around juniper, citrus, and capsicum to replicate the warmth and structure of gin. The capsicum is clever: it gives you that gentle burn at the back of the throat that you’d normally get from alcohol. Around £19 at Ocado and Amazon, £20 at Waitrose.
Warner’s Botanic Garden Spirits Double Dry is a proper farm-distillery product from Northamptonshire. They use four different extraction methods on juniper, lemon verbena and spice to get complexity. The Pink Berry version layers farm-grown raspberries with ginger and Szechuan pepper for something surprisingly feisty. Both around £17-18 at Amazon and Ocado.
Tarquin’s Cornish Dry Non-Alcoholic Spirit uses the same coastal botanicals as their excellent Cornish Dry Gin: juniper, gorse flower, sea salt and orange zest. There’s a maritime quality to it that sets it apart. Around £22 on Amazon.
Whitley Neill takes a different route entirely. They actually make their full-strength gins first, then de-alcoholise them using a spinning cone still, which strips the alcohol while keeping the botanical flavour intact. The Rhubarb & Ginger (from £11 at ASDA/Amazon) and Raspberry (around £16) are both excellent. The Japanese Yuzu & White Strawberry 0% is newer and very refreshing at around £15.
Making the Perfect AF G&T
The spirit is only half the story. Here’s how to make the most of it.
Tonic matters more than you think. A cheap tonic will flatten any AF gin. Fever-Tree Indian Tonic is the default for a reason: it has proper quinine bitterness and doesn’t drown everything in sweetness. Fentimans is another strong choice. For Tanqueray Flor De Sevilla or anything citrus-forward, try Fever-Tree Mediterranean Tonic.
Ratio: Most AF spirits work best at 1:2 or 1:3 with tonic, which is slightly stronger than a typical alcoholic G&T ratio. You need more spirit because the flavour is less concentrated without alcohol to carry it.
Ice and garnish are non-negotiable. Lots of ice (the big cubes if you’ve got them) and a proper garnish. Lime for Gordon’s. Cucumber for anything herbal. Grapefruit for Seedlip Spice 94. Pink peppercorns or berries for the pink/fruit-forward spirits.
Use a copa glass if you have one. The balloon shape concentrates the botanicals and makes the whole experience feel more considered. It genuinely makes a difference to how you perceive the aroma.
Where to Start
If you’ve never tried an AF gin alternative before, CleanCo Clean G is the one to grab first. It’s the closest to actual gin, it’s widely available, and at £10 from ASDA or Tesco it won’t break the bank. Pair it with Fever-Tree Indian Tonic, lots of ice, and a lime wedge, and you’ll be genuinely surprised.
If you want a familiar name, Gordon’s 0.0% is reliable and everywhere. If you want to spend a bit more for something premium, Sipsmith FreeGlider or Seedlip Spice 94 are both worth the investment. And if you find Ceder’s at ASDA for £7, buy two bottles and don’t tell anyone how little you paid.
The AF gin shelf is only going to get more crowded. That’s good news for all of us.