The non-alcoholic Daiquiri

The original daiquiri, from Cuba, is white rum, lime juice and sugar, shaken with ice and strained into a chilled glass. It's one of the simplest cocktails there is, and one of the most exposed:

• Rum brings sugarcane sweetness, a light grassy or vanilla note, and the weight and warmth of alcohol.
• Lime brings the sour. Fresh only.
• Sugar balances the lime. The classic ratio is about two parts rum, one part lime and three-quarters of a part simple syrup.
• Dilution and chill matter as much as any ingredient. A hard shake adds water, air and a thin layer of foam.

In a zero-proof daiquiri, the rum's job has to be done by a rum alternative plus a few tricks:

• Choose a light, white-rum style. Dark and spiced rum alternatives can work, but they change the drink.
• Keep the sugar in check. Many rum alternatives are sweeter than rum. Start with half an ounce of syrup and taste.
• Add a pinch of salt. It gives the drink body and makes the lime taste rounder.
• Shake very hard, and double-strain. You want it ice-cold with a fine foam on top and no ice shards.
• Serve up, in a frozen glass. A daiquiri is small and meant to be drunk cold. Put the coupe in the freezer while you juice the limes.

There's no ready-made non-alcoholic daiquiri or daiquiri can in our catalogue yet. On a non-alcoholic daiquiri mix: most bottled strawberry daiquiri mixes are strawberry purée and sugar, made to be blended with rum and ice. They work for a frozen virgin strawberry daiquiri, but they're very sweet, so add fresh lime. For the classic shaken version, a mix won't help; you just need limes and sugar.

The rum

The best non-alcoholic rum for a daiquiri is a white-rum style with enough flavor to be tasted through the lime. There are fewer rum alternatives than gin or tequila alternatives, but there are now a handful to choose from.

• Lyre's White Cane Spirit is our pick, and the one our recipes use. Sugar cane, caramel and coconut, light and gently spiced, and it's built for a daiquiri, mojito or piña colada. A Lyre's White Cane daiquiri is the closest to the classic we've found: clean, lightly sweet, with just enough cane flavor to keep it from being limeade.
• Ritual Rum Alternative is vanilla, ripe banana, burnt orange and molasses, with a peppery warmth, and it mixes one-for-one. It's closer to a gold rum, so it makes a darker, rounder daiquiri with more heat. It's the better choice if you find the classic too thin.
• ISH Caribbean Spiced is caramel, vanilla, nutmeg and baked apple with zero sugar. It makes a spiced daiquiri, and because it's unsweetened you can keep the syrup at the classic level.
• Abstinence Cape Spice is sugar-free too, with allspice, cassia, clove and orange peel over vanilla and coconut. It's the most spice-forward; good in a winter daiquiri.
• Lyre's Dark Cane Spirit (caramel, molasses and maple) is a dark rum alternative. It's too heavy for a classic daiquiri, but a quarter-ounce with White Cane adds depth, like a split-base daiquiri with an aged rum.

The lime and sugar

• Lime: one ounce per drink, freshly squeezed. With only three ingredients, stale or bottled juice is obvious.
• Sugar: simple syrup (equal parts sugar and hot water) is standard. Rich demerara syrup adds a toffee note that stands in for an aged rum. Start at half an ounce and go up to three-quarters.
• Salt: a small pinch, or two drops of saline solution. It's the easiest way to add body.

Fruit and flavor

The daiquiri is one of the best templates for fruit, and a few catalogue bottles help:

• Giffard Alcohol-Free Pineapple is ripe, sweet pineapple. Half an ounce in place of the syrup makes a pineapple daiquiri, and it's the base for tiki-style drinks.
• Lyre's Orange Sec, a dry orange liqueur alternative with sweet and bitter orange, adds orange and body. A quarter-ounce makes a daiquiri closer to a Mai Tai or a rum margarita.

The shake and the glass

Technique matters more in a daiquiri than in almost any other drink, because there's nothing to hide behind.

• Fill the shaker with ice. Two-thirds full at least. More ice chills faster and dilutes less than a few cubes rattling around.
• Shake hard and short. About 12 seconds, as hard as you can. You're aiming for a drink that's painfully cold, with a fine layer of foam on top. Non-alcoholic spirits dilute faster than rum, so don't shake for longer than that.
• Double-strain. Pour through the shaker's strainer and a small sieve to catch ice chips. Shards melt in the glass and water the drink down.
• Frozen glass, small serve. A daiquiri is about four ounces once shaken. Use a small coupe or a Nick and Nora glass straight from the freezer, and drink it while it's cold. It's not a drink to linger over.
• Garnish lightly. A thin lime wheel on the rim, or nothing. The classic has no garnish at all.

Frozen or shaken?

It's a matter of mood. The shaken classic is short, sharp and grown-up; it's what you order at a cocktail bar. The frozen version is long, sweet and fruity; it's what you make for a hot afternoon or a crowd. Both can be made without alcohol, and both use the same base, so you can make one bottle of rum alternative do both jobs.

This is the classic, shaken and served up. Lyre's White Cane gives the cane flavor; salt gives it body.

If it tastes thin, swap half the White Cane for Ritual Rum Alternative; if it's too tart, add syrup a bar spoon at a time.

The frozen strawberry daiquiri

For the virgin strawberry daiquiri, frozen strawberries do double duty as fruit and ice, so the drink stays thick without watering down. The rum alternative is optional but makes it taste like a cocktail rather than a smoothie.

For a non-alcoholic frozen strawberry daiquiri without a blender, a slushie machine like the Ninja Slushi works well: make a double batch of the shaken daiquiri, stir in strawberry purée, and let the machine freeze it. The same method makes an alcohol-free mango daiquiri; use ripe mango in place of the strawberries and a little less syrup.

The rum alternatives and flavor bottles for a daiquiri, compared. Ratings are a rough average of reviews from around the web; see each bottle's page for the sources.

Rum, lime and sugar is a template for dozens of drinks.

• Mojito: the same three ingredients with mint and soda, served long over crushed ice. More forgiving of a light rum alternative.
• Hemingway daiquiri: add half an ounce of fresh grapefruit juice and use a little less sugar. Tart and dry.
• Pineapple daiquiri: Giffard Alcohol-Free Pineapple in place of the syrup.
• Mango daiquiri: blend half a cup of ripe or frozen mango with the classic recipe and a handful of ice. Mango is sweet, so cut the syrup to half an ounce.
• Dark daiquiri: use Ritual Rum Alternative, or split White Cane with a quarter-ounce of Lyre's Dark Cane, and sweeten with demerara syrup. Richer, with molasses and vanilla.
• Spiced daiquiri: ISH Caribbean Spiced or Abstinence Cape Spice with a small pinch of grated nutmeg on top. Good in the colder months, when a frozen strawberry drink doesn't appeal.
• Piña colada: the frozen, creamy cousin, with pineapple and coconut. Lyre's White Cane's coconut note suits it.
• Margarita: an agave spirit in place of the rum, plus orange liqueur and salt.
• Dark 'n' Stormy: a dark rum alternative over ginger beer with lime.

Frozen strawberry daiquiris are easy to find without alcohol; a proper shaken zero-proof daiquiri is rarer, and usually only at bars that stock a rum alternative. A few worth the trip: