The non-alcoholic Gin & Tonic

A classic G&T is three things: gin, tonic and ice, with a citrus garnish. Each has a job.

• The gin brings juniper and dryness. Juniper is the piney, resinous note that makes gin taste like gin. Coriander, citrus peel and angelica sit behind it. Alcohol lifts those aromas and gives the drink a little warmth.
• The tonic brings bitterness, sweetness and bubbles. Quinine is the bitter part. Most tonics balance it with a fair amount of sugar.
• The ice keeps it cold and slows dilution. A glass packed with ice melts more slowly than a glass with three cubes floating in it.

Take the alcohol out and two things go wrong. The juniper gets quieter, and the tonic's sugar takes over. A non-alcoholic gin and tonic has to fight both:

• Pour more gin. We use 2 oz of gin alternative to 4 oz of tonic, a 1:2 ratio, where a standard G&T is closer to 1:3.
• Use a drier tonic. A light or "dry" tonic keeps the sweetness down and lets the botanicals through. Save the elderflower and flavored tonics for the herbal spirits.
• Add salt. Two dashes of saline (four parts water to one part salt) make the drink taste rounder and more substantial. You won't taste salt; you'll taste more gin.
• Pack the glass with ice and keep everything cold. Warm tonic loses its fizz and its bite. Keep it in the fridge, and pour it down a bar spoon so the bubbles survive.

If you want a zero proof gin and tonic without buying a bottle of gin alternative and a case of tonic, a can is the answer.

Lyre's G&T is a canned gin and tonic made with Lyre's Dry London Spirit. It leads with juniper, then citrus, and finishes with a crisp, dry quinine bitterness. It's the most direct answer to the search for non alcoholic gin and tonic cans, and the flavor is close to what you'd get mixing Lyre's gin with a standard tonic yourself. Pour it over a glass packed with ice rather than drinking it from the can: the aroma matters in a G&T, and a lime wedge or grapefruit peel does a lot of work.

If you want something in the same spirit but less literal, Casamara Club Onda is an amaro soda of sage, lemon peel, chinotto and rhubarb root with sea salt. It's not a G&T, but it's dry, bitter, green and fizzy, which covers most of what people want from one on a hot afternoon.

This is the choice that matters, and the shelf has grown fast. We split it into four groups: classic juniper-led gin alternatives, brighter citrus-led ones, pink gins, and botanical spirits that borrow gin's job but go their own way.

Classic and juniper-led: the ones that taste like gin

If you're looking for the best non alcoholic gin that tastes like gin, start here. The common thread in the most convincing ones is something warm or peppery on the finish, standing in for alcohol's burn.

• Monday Zero Alcohol Gin is our first pick. It's led by juniper, with lemon and cucumber behind it and a warming tingle on the finish. That warmth is what most zero-proof gins are missing, and it keeps a Monday G&T from reading as flavored soda. If you've been searching for a Monday gin review, the short version is: it's the one we reach for when we want a G&T that tastes like a G&T.
• ISH London Botanical is a London dry-style alternative with juniper and citrus up front and coriander behind. A chili-seed distillate gives it real bite, and it has zero sugar. It's made for a G&T.
• Free Spirits The Spirit of Gin is modeled on a dry Plymouth-style gin: juniper first, then citrus, coriander and cardamom. It has a little more body than most, which helps it hold up under tonic.
• Dhōs Gin Free is pine, juniper, candied lemon and spearmint, with a warm-to-cool finish of coriander, fennel and wintergreen. It's sugar-free and zero calories, and it swaps straight into a G&T. That cooling finish makes it the most refreshing of the group.
• Cut Above Zero Proof Gin is juniper, cardamom and rose with lime, lemon and bergamot oils. It's a classic-leaning profile, a touch more perfumed than Monday.
• Lyre's Dry London Spirit is juniper-forward with citrus and coriander and a dry finish. It's softer than the others here, so it rewards the bigger pour and the saline. It's also the base of Lyre's G&T, so if you like the can, this is the bottle.

Bright and citrus-led

These keep juniper in the mix but lead with fresh citrus or green herbs. They make the lightest, most summery G&Ts.

• Ritual Gin Alternative is cucumber and juniper up front, mint and basil underneath, with a peppery heat that stands in for the burn. Ritual says to mix it 1:1 wherever a recipe says gin, and it's at its best with tonic and a lot of lime.
• Abstinence Cape Citrus is a citrus-led gin alternative from Cape Town: grapefruit and bright peel over a little warm spice. Garnish with grapefruit.
• Damrak Virgin 0.0 is distilled in Amsterdam from ten botanicals and is orange-led rather than juniper heavy. Pour it with tonic and an orange wheel.
• Fluere Botanical Blend is coriander seed and lime peel on the nose, with lavender and juniper beneath. It's floral and crisp with tonic.

Pink gins

Pink gin and tonic is its own drink now, and there are two good zero-proof options. Lyre's Pink London Spirit is red berries, rosehip and juniper, floral and fruity with a dry finish. Fluere Raspberry Blend is distilled fresh raspberries over juniper, lavender and lime peel, and a little sweeter. Use a light tonic and a few fresh berries.

Botanical spirits: G&T-adjacent, and lovely

These don't taste much like gin, and they don't claim to. With tonic, though, they make some of the best non-alcoholic highballs you can pour.

• Pentire Adrift is rock samphire, sage and lime from the Cornish coast. With tonic it's savory, green and clean. A pinch of salt and a sage leaf make it sing.
• Seedlip Garden 108 is peas, hay, spearmint and rosemary. It's the most herbal bottle here, and it wants a light tonic and a sprig of rosemary.
• Abstinence Cape Floral is led by Cape rose geranium, with juniper, angelica and coriander keeping it gin-shaped. Floral, herbal and slightly bitter.
• Seedlip Grove 42 is three kinds of orange with lemongrass and ginger, zesty and dry. Seedlip Spice 94 is allspice, cardamom and oak, warm rather than bright, and makes a wintry tonic with a strip of orange peel.
• Everleaf Marine (sea-fresh and savory with bergamot and saffron) and Everleaf Forest (pine, moss and cherry blossom) are aperitifs rather than spirits, but both are made for tonic.

The tonic is two-thirds of the glass, so it deserves as much thought as the gin. The short answer to "what tonic works best with non-alcoholic gin" is: the drier the better.

• For the classic gin alternatives (Monday, ISH, Free Spirits, Dhōs, Lyre's), use a dry tonic so the juniper stays in front. Fever-Tree Refreshingly Light is drier and more bitter than the full-sugar version, and Q Tonic Water is noticeably drier and more bitter than most, with very high carbonation. Fever-Tree Premium Indian Tonic is the crisp benchmark if you want a little more sweetness. Top Note Classic Tonic is slightly bitter and balanced, and built for a London-dry-style gin.
• For the citrus-led gins, Seedlip Garden or Pentire, a light tonic or even half tonic and half Fever-Tree Premium Club Soda keeps the herbal notes clear. Fentimans Tonic Water is brewed with juniper, kaffir lime leaf and lemongrass, so it adds depth to a lighter gin.
• For pink gins, Grove 42 or Spice 94, Fever-Tree Mediterranean Tonic has thyme and other herbs over a gentle quinine base, which suits the fruitier and warmer profiles. Fever-Tree Elderflower Tonic is floral and a little sweet, for a softer G&T with lemon.
• To set your own bitterness, Jack Rudy Classic Tonic Syrup is a quinine concentrate you stretch with soda water, about half an ounce per drink. It tints the drink amber.
• For more bite, a few dashes of Seasn Light Cocktail Bitters add lime and grapefruit peel, a clean bitterness and a salty edge. It's made for G&Ts.
• Always cold. Keep tonic in the fridge and buy small bottles or cans, so each drink gets a fresh one. Half-flat tonic is the fastest way to a watery G&T.

This is our house G&T. The bigger pour of Monday and two dashes of saline give it enough body to taste like a real drink, and grapefruit peel adds a bitter-citrus aroma that plays well with juniper.

If you want it drier, swap half the tonic for soda water, or use Q Tonic Water. For a greener, fresher version, use Ritual Gin Alternative in place of Monday, add a thin slice of cucumber and use lime in place of grapefruit.

For something greener, our two botanical serves:

Here's how the gin alternatives, the ready-made G&T and our two go-to tonics compare. The table pulls live ratings from around the web; see each bottle's page for sources.

A good bottle of gin alternative opens up more than the G&T.

• Gin Fizz. Gin alternative, lemon, sugar and soda, often with egg white for a silky head. It's the G&T's older, more interesting cousin.
• French 75. Gin alternative, lemon and sugar, topped with non-alcoholic sparkling wine. Bright, dry and celebratory.
• Martini. The hardest zero-proof drink to get right, and the one that shows off a good gin alternative best.
• Negroni. Gin alternative, a bitter aperitivo and a sweet vermouth alternative. Monday is our Negroni gin.

Plenty of bars will make you a gin and tonic mocktail if they stock a zero-proof gin, and alcohol-free bars usually have two or three to choose from. A few worth visiting: