Alcohol Replacements: Five Drinks We Love

There's a moment that eventually comes for every beer or cocktail lover: You want the ritual, the flavor, the social lift, but the next-day fog isn't worth it anymore. Maybe it's a Tuesday and a full pint feels like too much. Maybe you don't want to wake up with a hangover. Maybe you just want to try something new. 

That's the gap that alcohol alternatives are made to fill, and the category has gotten a lot more interesting than the choices of a few years ago.

We went looking for the drinks that hold up when compared to your usual order, not just the ones with the loudest marketing. Here are five alcohol alternatives worth trying, plus a few pointers for finding the right one for you. 

Many Drinkers Are Making the Switch

Cutting back on alcohol doesn't mean giving up the tradition. Mocktails, nonalcoholic spirits, kombucha, and hemp-derived THC drinks are picking up steam: NA spirits and ready-to-drink mocktails grew 70% between 2024 and 2025, according to NielsenIQ, even as nonalcoholic beer retains the largest share of the category. 

THC drinks are bubbling up just as quickly. NielsenIQ measured $239 million in mainstream retail sales for the category over the 52 weeks ending June 27, 2026. That's a 135% jump year over year, and that figure doesn't even count dispensary or direct-to-consumer sales. They also found that roughly half of adults in the United States say they're interested in trying a cannabis-infused beverage. That tracks with what we're seeing on shelves: These cans have moved out of specialty shops and into the same store coolers as beer, wine, and hard seltzer.

The appeal is straightforward. There's no hangover to plan around the next morning, most options run lower in calories than a beer or cocktail, and they're easy to pace for customizing your experience. For people cutting back on alcohol without cutting out the social experience, that combination is hard to beat.

How to Pick the Ideal Alcohol Alternative

A few things to consider before you grab a can:

Know what's in the can. A 5 mg THC drink compares to a light beer or glass of wine, while 20 mg is for consumers who know their tolerance. A zero-proof spirit or NA mocktail should mean exactly that, and even kombucha carries trace alcohol from fermentation. Check the label if you're avoiding alcohol entirely.

Match the format to the occasion. A seltzer or kombucha works for a backyard hang or a ballgame. A sippable spirit alternative fits a slower night in. A shot is designed for portability and speed, not for lingering.

Know how it's meant to be enjoyed. Most nanoemulsified THC beverages kick in within 15 minutes or so, though this varies by product and by person. Give the drink time to work before deciding you need another. NA spirits and kombucha don't have an onset to wait for, so you can pace them any way you like.

Look for lab testing or an ABV you can trust. Reputable THC brands post third-party lab results for potency and purity. Reputable kombucha and NA spirit brands should be just as up-front about alcohol content, since fermentation and de-alcoholization can leave trace amounts. If a brand doesn't make that information easy to find, that's worth noting.

Five Alcohol Alternatives We Reach For

Best Tasting: 5 mg Crescent 9 THC Seltzer Variety Pack

The 5 mg Crescent 9 THC Seltzer Variety Pack is where we go for flavor. Crescent Canna built this line to compete with hard seltzer on taste, not just effect, and uses real fruit juices, purees, and terpenes instead of leaning on artificial sweeteners.

The variety pack mixes flavors like Tropical, Ginger Lemonade, Raspberry Lime, and Sour Watermelon, each carrying 5 mg THC and 4 mg CBD per 12-ounce can. Effects are approachable, and the can tastes like something you'd order again. 

At 40 to 100 calories, depending on the flavor, it also lands lighter than most canned cocktails. Onset is around 15 minutes, thanks to nanoemulsified THC, roughly the same window as a hard seltzer hitting the bloodstream.

Most Versatile: 5 mg Ellora THC-Infused Spirit Alternative

If you're more of a cocktail person than a can-cracker, Ellora 5 mg THC-Infused Spirit Alternative is for you. It's a still, spirit-style pour rather than a carbonated drink, blending citrus, blue agave, and floral botanical notes. You can sip it neat, on the rocks, or mixed into a mocktail. 

The 5 mg version is Ellora's most approachable tier, roughly equivalent to a light cocktail. It blends especially well in sour-style drinks, a Southside riff with mint and lemon, or a ranch-water brew with sparkling water and lime. Because it works undiluted or mixed, it's the one bottle on this list that can last an entire evening instead of just one drink.

Best Vibes: 10 mg Crescent 9 THC Seltzer Variety Pack

For a night with friends where you want the effects to be more pronounced, the 10 mg Crescent 9 THC Seltzer Variety Pack is the sweet spot. This is one of Crescent Canna's best-selling potencies, and 10 mg has become close to the industry standard dose for people who have some THC beverage experience. 

The pack rotates through Raspberry Lime, Sour Watermelon, Grape Lemonade, and Ginger Lemonade, so a single case doesn't get repetitive. If you're newer to 10 mg, start with half a can and see how you feel before finishing it. It's a solid stand-in for a cocktail or a couple of hard seltzers at a party, a movie night, or a game-day gathering, without the multidrink commitment.

Best Caffeinated Option: Citron Café Noir by Mockly

Most alcohol alternatives skip caffeine, and that makes Citron Café Noir by Mockly stand out. Mockly is a New Orleans-born, mixologist-crafted, nonalcoholic libation brand, and Citron Café Noir is its cold brew-based pour. It blends cocoa and fennel with a bright burst of lemon into something crafted for fancy stemmed glasses. 

It was among the Best New Non-Alcoholic Ready to Drink Cocktails at BevNET's 2025 Spirits Awards, and the natural caffeine base from the cold brew gives it a lift most seltzers and mocktails on this list don't have. Each 8.4-ounce can is sized more like a cocktail than a soda, and it's zero proof, so there's no dose or tolerance to think through. Save it for an occasion when you want a little pick-me-up alongside the ritual.

Best Everyday Swap: Health-Ade Kombucha

Not every night out calls for a THC drink or a mocktail, and that's where Health-Ade Kombucha earns a spot. It's a fermented tea prepared with organic black and green tea, real fruit juice, and live active cultures. With flavors like Pink Lady Apple, Ginger Lemon, and Bubbly Rose, it reads as a proper drink rather than a health-food consolation prize. 

Like all commercial kombucha, it carries trace alcohol from fermentation that's kept under the legal 0.5% threshold for a nonalcoholic beverage, which is worth knowing if you're avoiding alcohol completely. It's an easy one to keep stocked for the nights you want something with a little tang and fizz but no concerns around dosing or tolerance.

Finding Your Own Favorite

None of these drinks are trying to be a perfect copy of alcohol, and that's the point. Each one is solving a different dilemma: flavor, versatility, social energy, caffeine, portability. 

Try a few, pay attention to the way your body responds to each potency, and build your own rotation the same way you'd compile a beer or cocktail playlist. The alcohol-alternative aisle is getting more crowded, but these are the ones we keep coming back to.