Herbarium

Herbarium Drinks launched in 2018, founded by Andrew and Steve with a clear brief. They wanted a traditionally distilled, alcohol-free spirit that could stand alongside tonic and hold its own. No artificial flavourings, no sweeteners, no shortcuts. Just botanicals, heat, and patience.

It took three years to get right. Working with homemade stills and running through countless iterations, they gradually learned how to coax genuine flavour from plant material without the scaffolding that alcohol usually provides. The result was recipe number 29, their flagship expression, Distillation 29.

Distillation 29 is the bolder of their two spirits, built around juniper, spice, and citrus across eleven botanicals. It has the kind of dry, aromatic character that makes sense in a long glass with tonic and ice. Distillation 8 takes a softer path, with lavender, rosemary, lemongrass, and pink pepper producing something more floral and delicate. Both are zero-calorie and zero-sugar, hand-distilled in small batches in the UK.

The range is deliberately tight: two spirits, each with a distinct personality, each designed to occupy a specific moment. There is something thoughtful about that restraint. Rather than expanding in every direction, Herbarium has focused on doing a small number of things well. The distillation-number naming is an honest nod to the process that got them here, a reminder that the product in the bottle is the outcome of real experimentation rather than a brand exercise.

At £22 a bottle, Herbarium sits at the craft end of the alcohol-free spirits market. The price is in line with premium AF gins and above the mid-range alternatives that have proliferated on supermarket shelves. Whether it represents value depends partly on how seriously you take the category. For those who do, it is a considered option from a brand that has been at this since before the current wave of interest made it fashionable.

Herbarium products appear in specialist alcohol-free retailers as well as direct from the brand's own site, with free standard UK shipping available. They are not yet the kind of brand you'll find in every supermarket, which is part of the point.