Product review: Seedlip drinks

Seedlip drinks are an alcohol-free alternative for those people who enjoy botanical-based spirits. They are great simply paired with tonic or soda water or incorporated in more elaborate cocktails.

Seedlip drinks

Seedlip makes alcohol-free sugar-free distilled spirits based on a variety of botanicals. They can be considered a zero-alcohol alternative to gin (although the manufacturer informs they don’t use juniper in their production process so technically it cannot be called “gin”).

These drinks have been produced in London since 2015 and are now available in several countries, including Australia.

The currently available flavours include:

• Grove 42 (citrus): with Mediterranean orange, lemon peel, lemongrass and ginger
• Spice 94 (aromatics): with allspice, cardamom and citrus notes
• Garden 108 (herbal): peas, rosemary, thyme and spearmint

Seedlip drinks come in 700mL bottles, which translates to 12-14 cocktails. The manufacturer recommends using 50mL/2oz of Seedlip per cocktail and not drinking it neat.

In addition, you can buy 4 packs containing 250mL cans of the following Seedlip & tonic combinations:

• Seedlip Garden 108 & Cucumber Tonic
• Seedlip Spice 94 & Grapefruit Tonic
• Seedlip Grove 42 & Lemongrass Tonic

Taste test

I bought a bottle of Grove 42 and a bottle of Garden 108. Each bottle comes with suggested garnishes for making S&Ts (Seedlip & tonics) with each flavour.

I have tried both flavours with soda water and tonic water and a variety of garnishes (orange, grapefruit, lemon or lime segments).

Both flavours are nice, although I personally like the Grove 42 better. Grove has sweet notes, so I liked it better with lemon or lime when mixed with tonic and orange or grapefruit when mixed with soda. I must admit I did not try Garden with the suggested garnish and that might partially explain why I didn’t enjoy it as much.

I have only tried one other brand which tasted like soapy water to me. Seedlip is definitely superior to that other product and worth spending the $45-50 per bottle, in my opinion.

Summary and recommendations

If you enjoy gin and other spirits distilled with botanicals, give Seedlip a try. They can be a great alternative when you are unable or choose to not drink alcohol. For example, this applies to pregnant women, designated drivers, people unable to break down alcohol (e.g. some Asian people), office workers in the middle of the work day, athletes recovering from training, etc. Even if you are drinking alcohol, I would suggest alternating alcohol containing drinks with Seedlip cocktails to reduce the load on your liver.

If you are not sold on the idea of drinking less alcohol, check out my article on alcohol and health.

More information

For more information and cocktail recipes check out Seedlip’s website.

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