Most alcohol-free spirits are built from water, sugar and flavourings. Ours start life as a real spirit at 60% ABV. Here are the three things that make the difference — and why the process takes as long as it does.
1. Alcohol-free spirits made from real spirits
At Sober Spirits, every product begins with a genuine, high-quality spirit. Where much of the market blends water, sugar and flavourings — or simply distils water — we start from the real thing. It's the only way to get close to the experience of a traditional spirit.
That means choosing the originals carefully. First we select the geographic origins the base spirits will come from. Then we build an aromatic map: what a rum, a gin or a whisky actually is in people's minds — its taste, its smell, its texture, how it behaves in a cocktail.
On origin: our products start their journey as meticulously chosen 60% ABV spirits. Our partners produce a Caribbean rum, a whisky aged three years in oak casks, and a bitter made to traditional Italian methods. Those real spirits are the base of every 0.0% version we make, which is what guarantees an authentic taste.
The aromatic map tells us which sensory notes define the spirit. We then source pure ingredients to match those profiles and find a spirit to extract the alcohol from. Before a new product goes on sale it goes through around a hundred R&D trials, until the alcohol-free version is as complex and as close to its alcoholic counterpart as we can get it.
2. A distinctive alcohol extraction process
Our spirits travel to Grasse — the world capital of perfume — where the alcohol is extracted, leaving a 0.0% ABV aperitif behind.
We tested several methods before settling on extraction. Conventional de-alcoholisation, the technique used for wine and beer, didn't make the cut: it doesn't preserve enough of the flavour.
Extraction turned out to be the only route to a taste genuinely close to a real spirit — and the know-how for it lives with the perfumers of Grasse. Extraction separates out the components of a spirit after distillation. Through heat, a pressure system and thermal shocks, it splits the flavour (which we keep for the Sober Spirits 0.0% range) from the pure ethanol. That ethanol then finds a second life in fine perfumery, which keeps the cycle circular rather than wasteful.
From there, our alcohol-free spirits are rebuilt in a French distillery dating back to 1875. Close to six different techniques go into the finished products: initial distillations, alcohol extraction, redistillations, infusions, filtrations and pasteurisation. They are redistilled in century-old copper stills with barks, plants and spices to age and deepen the aromatics. The result keeps the aromatic richness, texture, structure and length of the original spirits — at 0.0% alcohol and zero sugar.
3. 150 years of craft, and a technique nobody else was using
Our products are developed in the heart of France, at the foot of the Alps, in a region known for spirit distillation. The expertise comes from master distillers who have been refining their craft since 1875, across six generations.
In more than 145 years, our partner distillery's copper stills have seen some of the finest products of the modern era pass through them. This red-brick distillery is one of the oldest in France, and it has quietly kept the best distillation techniques in the business.
That craft, combined with our alcohol extraction technique, is what earned us recognition from leading bartenders and prestigious venues — and the title of world's best non-alcoholic spirit at competitions including the San Francisco World Spirits Competition and the International Wine & Spirit Competition.
It's this approach that lets us offer a tasting experience with real depth, where every sip carries the weight of the process behind it — and lets you rebuild any cocktail you love in an alcohol-free version, with the taste intact.
Ready to taste it? Order from our online shop today. Still curious about the process? Head to our Manufacturing page for the full detail.
