We're Not Drinking Tonight
We're Not Drinking Tonight
002- Can alternative spirits ever replace the real thing? The Ladies try Ritual Zero-Proof.
In this episode, the ladies taste and review Ritual Zero Proof Spirit Alternatives. Ritual Zero Proof calls itself "The True Replacement Liquor", but can a zero proof tequila, gin, or cognac ever really replace the real thing?
Listen in as the ladies give their unfiltered opinions on everything Ritual, from the first taste to the last sip to find out whether it truly is a true replacement.
Along the way they discuss day parties and the optimism that comes along with drunk shopping, and what happens when you ask for non-alcoholic beverages at the liquor store. They also get into some of the current regulatory challenges around CBD and Nootropics that can create a barrier to accessing alternative spirits online or even in person.
I'm Ciara and I'm Shantel and we're not drinking tonight.<laugh>
Speaker 2:Welcome to, we are not drinking tonight. The podcast that asks, what do you drink when you're not drinking? This podcast is an Exco of what happens when two friends and former party girls try to find alternatives to alcohol while staying social, we wanna make it clear. We're not alcohol free. We do drink. We love to get back with a drink, a shot glass of wine. You name it, but sometimes life calls for you to sip socially without the spirits. And that's what we're here to talk about. Join us as we explore cannabis, low alcohol, no alcohol and functional beverages as alternatives. We're gonna get into the latest and we wanna take you along on the journey. Now let's start the show.
Speaker 1:Welcome to episode. Yeah. Episode two, episode two. We are not drinking tonight, but it's actually like at the time of recording daytime. Yeah, I was gonna say so actually this is like prime drinking time. If being honest, it is, this is like brunch. O'clock mm-hmm<affirmative> so for most people like brunch is like a heavy cultural thing. Everyone knows between like 12 and three on Saturday and Sunday. It's like socially acceptable to be very drunk. Oh yes. I mean, even later than that day, parties are the best because you can, I mean, I was, I mean, if you make it out by 12, I mean, if you can get outta the house at some point before two or three, o'clock arrive. Yeah. Have your drinks and party the rest of the day, man, that's done by nine o'clock.<laugh> like you've made it back home and, and like you've had such a long day. You can shower and be in bed by 10. Yeah. Daytime drinking day drinking is the best<laugh> well, today in we're yeah, Tuesday<laugh> today. We're not day drinking. We are day drinking, but we're drinking alternatives as per usual. Yeah. Um, but you were saying so in DC, like the<laugh> oh honey in DC, it was very well known that you could spend the whole day, a day drinking mm-hmm<affirmative> and like having a good, a good time. I guess I'm trying not to curse on our<laugh>. Well, I mean, I've clearly I've let a few fly, but um, in New York, it's so funny because if you happen, if you so happen to be outside during the peak hours of brunch and you're sober, you realize how crazy see everybody, everybody else is drunk. Yeah. Because everyone else is drunk. Everyone else is stumbling off the curb, barely making into their Ubers. And it's like two, three o'clock in the looking, just stumbling broad life and singing and having a really good time. And unless like, if you're a part of it. So like, if you're the group that just came from brunch, the world looks amazing to you. You're like, ah, it's beautiful. You might even go drunk shopping. Yes. Oh my God. Drunk shopping is it really is. It's the best. It's the best of times in the worst of times when you get home, you're like, where did I think I was going in this completely shimmered out dress?<laugh> like what? You're very optimistic when you're drunk shopping. Oh my God. Yes. You're like, of course I was gonna wear that to the ball.<laugh> there is no ball. There is, there will be one, there will be a ball, all kinds of random it when you're drunk shopping, which yeah. Okay. Good times. But it's so funny though, because like I said, when you're not on the inside of that crowd, when you, when you're watching it and you're actually like doing something like laundry<laugh>, you're watching the drunk people stumble off the curb. You're like, what are you doing today? Like, like what's work tomorrow.<laugh> so in that same vein though, last night we did have a drink. Yeah, we, yeah, we did. We enjoyed it. We enjoyed some adult beverages last night. Yep. Um, and because of like exactly what we started off the podcast, by saying it was like, today, we're like, we need to be productive tomorrow. Hmm. So maybe we're gonna skip on brunch o'clock yep. And try out some of our alternatives. So, uh, Sierra and I have like, I mean, purchased a ton. We tried different. Yeah. There's, there's so many things on the market, but I think each brand kind of takes a different approach to like alternative drinks. Right. So some of'em are, you know, trying to emulate a certain cocktail taste. Some are meant be drunk on their own. And I think we've already talked about C lip before and C lip was, you know, a very, uh, it's a not as complex of a taste. It's a very simple drink. And I think it's just meant to be kind of poured over ice with a tonic, very simple drink. And today we're gonna dive into ritual, which they actually make non-A aholic alternative. So like they have an alternative whiskey, alternative tequila and an alternative gin, which I'm excited to try these out because they're meant to taste like the alcohol, but with none of the actual alcohol in it funny last night, when we went to go purchase cocktails, we stopped liquor store. So, so we started talking about out this like several months ago, probably in January of this year, we caught wind of the low and no alcohol movements at the time I was doing like a, I was abstaining from alcohol completely. Mm-hmm<affirmative> I was doing like a dry January and I kind of looked around and saw that there was a lot of conversation around this dry January movement. And, you know, it was kind of funny to see all of the, all of the creative around it. And, you know, I was aware that there was like a growing low slash no alcohol movement. So, you know, we started talking about this and we were like, wouldn't it be great if we just tried a bunch of stuff and like, see what it all tastes like. So I went to the liquor store, that's near my house and I went to the guy. I mean, I didn't know even where to begin to look. I went up to the guy and I was like, Hey guy, can you, can you point me to the, do you have non-alcoholic spirits here? And this man looked at me like I had three heads mm-hmm<affirmative> he literally was like, this is a liquor store. I'm not sure if you knew, like, what's going, like, what did you wandered into like, are you, do you see this liquor here? This is a liquor store. The judgment. I was very judged in that moment. And when we, we went back to that same story yesterday to grab drinks and I didn't even have to ask, like, we were just wandering through the aisles and we came upon it and it was actually seed lip mm-hmm<affirmative>. So we talked about seed lip in episode one. Um, so if you want to understand what our thoughts are about Seedlip I would highly encourage you to check that out, but it's crazy that just three months ago, mm-hmm<affirmative> I was in that store and the man looked at me like a crazy person, and now they're carrying it. Yeah. He just didn't know it was coming. He probably didn't know. And he also, or it could have, have been there or on its way in, in his mind. He's like, I don't know what that thing is. Yeah. It's a new bottle of something on the show.<laugh> it's like kind of like, um, consumer beware, like go purchase it on your own. Mm-hmm<affirmative> like, I'm not gonna educate you on what's in that thing. If I, if we even brought it up to the counter, he probably would've been like, yeah, it's booze. I, I don't know if knew it was a spirit or not. Cause when I asked, they said we have non-alcoholic beer and wine, because to be fair, like there are people who don't, they wanna drink beer and alcohol, but they, or beer and wine and they don't want to drink alcohol. So that does exist. Mm-hmm<affirmative> like the liquor store does try to meet the needs of several different types of consumer. But yeah. Asking for alcohol free spirit. That's that's some new stuff that I don't think that they were really. Yeah. Just don't ask the guy at the counter, just go search the aisles on your own. If you're looking for something cuz the judgment was there. And I think the also I think we should probably be a little bit more clear and in, in the type of alternatives that we are. So I think we kind of talked about this before. It's not just about removing the alcohol. It is still about getting like the efficacy of the relaxation that comes yep. From having a nice cocktail at the end of the day. So a lot of these drinks either talk about neutropics or some other type of natural yeah. Remedy for like relaxation. So you'll find that it's really hard to read the packaging on some of these and find out exactly what's in it, which is probably one of my lead complaints. Is that like, I wanna be an informed consumer. Yeah. That's a mystery. And sometimes it is a mystery. Like you've gotta go to their website, their social media and all those kind of things to figure out which ones actually have something other than just, you know, water and it, um, and those that are actually meant to kind of give you some relaxed benefits. So all of the ones that we are trying have boasted in some way shape or that they give you the feeling of being relaxed and it's not just, you know, your typical alcohol alternative. So that being said, I think we're gonna start with ritual again. I said they have three there's we, we got the three pack cuz it sounds cool. And it also looks really nice. I love a pickable window. Yeah. So we're talking about ritual zero proof. Yes. The full name is ritual zero proof and they have three variations, a tequila alternative, a gen alternative and a whiskey alternative. And Chantel mentioned that they, it comes with a cute peek AOU window. That is adorable. It comes in a oh for some, sorry. We are talking about the box. Sorry that oh yeah, yeah. The box. Oh we're the they're like now we love a pick winner. They're like pick away. That means we can't see it. So the packaging, so the packaging is super cute and you'll hear a lot, like I, I love pack. I like the way that something arrives and like it's part of the experience. It's like, what does the box look like? What does it smell? Like when you open the, the bottle? Like that's all an experience to me. And I think sometimes because people consume alcohol so much, we, we forget, forget that there was supposed to be an experience with a lot of these things, but we don't get it anymore. Rituals box. They do like this really cute peek Abu window where in which you actually see the bottles on the inside. And I think something about that just feels fun and it looks fun. So it's very experiential. You can like touch and feel mm-hmm<affirmative> it feels very tangible. And it, it looks giftable too, which, which is really nice because as people are like exploring alternatives, it's kind of hard. Like you don't wanna just show up with a bottle and be like, here you go, because they don't know what they're drinking. So if you can get a three pack or something like this and show up with this and people can educate themselves or whatever, it's, it's a lot of material on the box. You bring up a good point about gifting. Mm-hmm<affirmative> because one really common gift during the holiday season. Oh yes. Is wine, champagne, spirits, whatever. But people who don't drink are always left out. Yes. You know, so this you're right. This is a very cute giftable idea. Mm-hmm<affirmative> um, it comes with three, three points or 3 75 mills, uh, bottles. And it says it does have a very clear expression of what this is. So ritual proof enjoy the ritual without the alcohol. It's a substitute for tequila, gin or whiskey to make your favorite cocktails without the alcohol or calories. That's something I don't think we've talked about. Yeah. Is the low calorie alternative of this? A lot of the alternatives do both like low calories extreme and low it's because they're not putting a lot of sugar and things of that nature in there. And you know, one of, I think we both love champagne and wine, but there is a lot of sugar yeah. In, in those type of beverages, which, you know, if you're trying to monitor your, your caloric intake or you're just trying to lose weight or be more responsible about what you're putting into your body. Sometimes watching the calories on what you drink, um, can be a slippery slope. It's a big out of it's just like, oh wait, did I just have three glasses of wine?<laugh> oh, how many you're worried about the brownie. Yeah, exactly. You're like worried about the little corner of a brownie that you had earlier in the day, but then you like Chuck three glasses of wine without, without better.<laugh> without thinking about it. Yeah. I think it's really cool. So how we chose this one is that it is, it actually has a seal on the package that says that it's, um, rated a best buy by the beverage tasting Institute. And it is the highest rated spirit alternative according into this body. So, you know, we thought, why not? Why not turn it out? It comes with some great nutrition facts on the back. Like, I feel like this is missing from almost everything body. Yes. Nobody tells you what, nobody wants us to know what is in their drink. And again, I'm not saying, look, I, that we are being a little bit, you know, I don't know we're being more laser focused on details because of course we're testing and we're trying these out, never have I ever bought a bottle of CI rock and been like, oh what? So yes, we are being a little bit, you know, like, but we know what vodka is like, that's because you know what vodka is, right. Exactly. The big thing that they have to communicate to you is the rock made from grapes. That's it? That's the that's, that's how it's differentiated, but this is a completely new category. Yes. And this is something emerging. So we think it's important to talk about the details. I just need to know what you put in it to make it feel or taste or what, what are you cuz you're, it's not vodka to your point, right? It's it's other stuff there's botanicals. There are extracts. There's all kinds of stuff that these companies are putting into their drinks. And, and that's not a bad thing, but it does take more to replicate something than to just pour, you know what I mean? To actually like give you a vodka, that's pretty straightforward. But to emulate a vodka or tequila, you've gotta put some extra stuff in there. So I do appreciate that ritual has this all spelled out, spelled out on the back of their packaging and they, yeah, they do. They have the nutrition facts and then they also like address. Yeah. They address the need for this because I think ritual is doing the best at consumer education. Yes. Right. Like I think of all of the packages that we ordered ritual is the only one trying to educate the consumer on what this product is, what it does, why you need it, what's in it and how it's going to benefit your life. So, you know, on the back of the package, in addition to all of the nutrition facts information, it gives use cases. So for when you're driving training, dieting, parenting, staying out late, getting up early, seeking in the perfect third drink. I love that. I love that too. I love that. Or abstaining all together. So it, it addresses a number of different use cases. It comes with a great, like cute little tail book, cocktail recipe book. And the first sentence is ritual began because we like to drink. Yes. I think that's a brand after our own heart. It's like, I know, right. Don't shame us cuz we enjoy drinking, but we're trying to be a little bit more adult about it. Like I appreciate that. Right. Right. Like you might have as an, as a grownup, you have obligations. Yes you do. You might adulting sucks, but it is mandatory. It's required. It's required that you be at least four to five days out of the week, you had to do it. There's there's goals. You have to meet things you have to do for whatever. Yeah. So and so ritual score is really high for me on the education, the packaging, I love this recipe book. It's super cute. And I actually like, I don't know how you say like the brand, the feel of the brand, because it doesn't feel like they're taking themselves too serious. Yeah. Like it it's something that feels approachable and like try in though. Yes. Oh yeah. It's not cheap. It's not like doesn't feel cheap. It doesn't feel cheap for sure. So it's like put a lot into it. They put a lot of thought into this and I think this is great for the, our Audi, like us and people like us who are in this in between kind of like, we're not saying we're not drinking anymore ever. We're just saying that like, you know, we're looking for some bartenders, this is so cute. She's looking at the, the car look, it's so nice. Like it has full color images. It's like a really cute, this is like the perfect gift to this is actually a really great gift. So if you have somebody out there, I mean just based on the look alone, I would say, this is a perfect gift because you, you understand what it is, what it does and what they're trying to achieve. And I don't think we've seen that. Not at all. Sure. Any of the other, I mean, no shade. We just haven't really seen it. We're literally just trying to give people alternatives to alternative drinking. Um, but I think we should start drinking it because I like similarly, while I love all of this stuff, the what's gonna be important is like taste. What does it taste like? Like do we eat like this? What are we feeling like? So immediately upon opening, I will say the cuz we S smell the tequila already. And we SELT the, we opened the G and what I love is that it actually smells like alcohol. Like it's like that smelled like tequila. Yeah. And the funny thing to me is that like, I don't like tequila<laugh> no. Yeah. So I person who can drink tequila straight. I don't know what it is. It's probably like remnants of undergrad or something weird. So if I ever have, if someone pours me a cocktail, without me even knowing if I smell the tequila, I'm like, oh, tequila.<laugh> so opinionated about tequila. I'm like it. So it's funny that like, as soon as we opened up the bottle, it literally smells like tequila. So I'm like, oh, without even looking at the label, I know what they're trying to, what, what, what do you know what I can mix with that? Because it smells like tequila. Yeah. Just talking about what the ingredients are in the tequila. It calls out blue agave, flour, Mexican lime, tropical WVA, cracked, sea salt, charred Oak Mesquite, smoke, black pepper, corn cap, fruit, prickly Ash, and green bell pepper. And it is described as made for margaritas with the grassy body and clean fire of Teala. Well, yeah. As much as I don't love tequila, I do love margaritas.<laugh> see I to be little with like pineapple or just soda. I'm very, I don't, I don't really take shots of it, but I can't take, I love to drink. So the taste I, so just the, so there's like a, a smokey taste to it, which is awesome. I, I like on its own. So again, like I said, I don't personally ever drink tequila straight because I can't get past, I don't, it's something about the taste of tequila. I don't know. I can't even articulate it. However I do like the smokiness of this mm-hmm<affirmative> and also there's like a, a bit of a, a spicy, like mescal. It's like a, it does kinda taste like ha on the back end of it, which is really nice. And as someone who is like, again, at the end of the day, you want like an adult beverage, this doesn't feel like a child's drink. It feels, I feel like I'm drinking an adult beverage. Yeah. Which maybe it's psychologically tricking my brain into being like, oh, this is, you know, typically you wind down with a, a glass of wine or maybe have a Marre or whatever it does taste like an adult. Absolutely. I would say that it tastes like, I mean, you could definitely taste the spiciness to it. I don't know that. I, I don't know that it tastes like tequila. Exactly. But it does taste layered and complex in a way that I don't know if I was exactly expecting. Yeah. I think that I was saying it. I think the smell really hits you in a way that is surprising. Like, I think we smelled it like four times. We're like, what is, why does it smell? Like, why does it smell? Like tequila smells like tequila? I don't think it tastes like tequila. So, you know, I think the way they make these is that they create it with the alcohol itself and then they distill to remove the alcohol mm-hmm<affirmative> that's my understanding of it's alcohol removed is the process. Yeah. And maybe some of the authentic taste of tequila is the alcohol component. Mm-hmm<affirmative>. Yeah. And you're, we're definitely missing that in, in this drink, you know, you're not drinking tequila, but you don't feel like you're drinking juice, juice, or spa water, or spa water<laugh> or spa water, water, anything like that. You feel like you're drinking something adult. Yes. And then I will say though, so drinking this straight, I, I don't know, like my body is like a, oh, this is cool. It feels like I'm having a drink, a cocktail, which is nice. I don't think that if I mixed, I don't know, is this, is it strong enough to go in a mixed drink and still kind of stand out as a taste? Is it, is it like, no, I don't think so. I don't think so. I don't think it would hold its weight once you mix in like all of your triple second, all that stuff to actually make a margarita. Yeah. I don't know that it would hold up, but also we, we didn't make margaritas. We were drinking it straight<laugh> we're drinking it straight, but we also like, I mean, I guess I could throw some orange juice in it at least to see how that holds up. Oh, wow. Yeah. I mean, I personally, again, I I'm like I'm loving the kick at the end. Something about that is just it's waking me up. It's like, ah, like I'm gonna stop doing that for everyone's like, why is she, why is she making all these ad libs? But that's what I feel. Every time I sip it, it's like I decided to do pineapple. Yeah. Okay. No worries. So yes. So ritual still, I think on the higher end for me, I'm not complaining about them in any capacity. Why am I coughing? It's probably the<laugh> that's the, at the end of the dream. Sorry if you're not. Okay. So I actually like Kayan pepper, like super off, like, yeah. I was gonna say off like completely off on a tangent. I love pepper in a drink, like, or just pepper at the end of something. It's um, there used to be this really weird guy on TV. And I used to watch him with my dad and he used to talk about like herbal stuff, like a Dr. CB or whatever. Oh, okay. Anyway, so he used to have this TV show. It was like nice show. And he used to always to talk about Kane pepper and how it electrifies. They bought it. So whenever I think about like a drink, waking up your body, like I'm always like, yeah. Put some CA and pepper in it. And then in my mind, I'm like, so it can electrify the body in. I didn't know that, but I actually love Chi and pepper and drinks too. I always, but there's like a spicy margarita. Mm-hmm<affirmative>, I'll definitely order it. Yeah. Like that's, it's like a nautical contest. Like I will always order the spicy margarita. So this also, it goes back to the point, like whether or not there are neutropics or CBD in this particular drink. I think putting that kick at the end, regardless to what it, you literally, your brain is like, Ooh, something, something, something, what is this? What is it? I'm something someone summon to me. I, I, I mean, okay. So do you feel anything, do you feel relaxed? Do you feel, I don't know that this has neutropic but I think that it's, I don't know. For some reason I do feel maybe it's completely psychological. Maybe my brain is like, you're having a cocktail. Yeah. Well it's because I'm very much so my brain I'm, I'm having the cocktail experience right now. And so it could be that my body's like is not educated enough to know that there's nothing in here doesn't know a being yeah. Is a know it's being tricked yet. So, I mean, I I'm, I feel social. I don't feel down. So let's, let's just throw it out there. Like I don't feel sleepy or anything like that. And we haven't put anything in here. So I, I don't know, again, still scoring pretty high in my book. Agree. I think that tequila did its job electrify. So would you like to move on the gin? Yeah. So also another thing about the smell of gin, I'm a really weird smell person. I can sniff out gin in anything. And that's because I, I personally, I just feel like gin's such a man strain what? I love a whiskey, but gin, I don't, I like whiskey was like a Southern girl. Like I'm like a good whiskey bourbon, a whiskey, like, go ahead and throw that in my way. But Jen always felt like sophisticated, man, dude, I don't know why don't ask me. I guess Jen makes you sin. I don't know. I think Jen makes you, makes you sin. I don't sin when I'm drinking. So you think in the wake, oh my God. Now gin makes you sin. And now we mean these poor folks, listening to this, go walk away with all kinds of anecdotes, all these. All right, cool. So, I mean the DEC smell like a gin. It has a very distinctive G to smell smells almost like elder flour. Like I can smell or Juniper, like I can smell the Juniper berries in it. So here's the cool thing again. Where ritual wins. They have all of the ingredients on the side of the bottle. Like, I don't know if everyone needs to know in heat in, in here. I do like that. The, it, they also have pepper corn in this one. Again, there's a peppermint leaf that might be where that kind of, because gin isn't super strong, but you can, it it's. Well, you don't know, like, you know, it's gin. I mean, you it's very distinct. It's not congen. Is that what I'm trying to say? Like, no, it's it's herb it's Herba I mean, it's smells. You can definitely smell gin. You can smell the Juniper in it. That's what really makes it stand out at least to me. Yeah. Well that's what I temp leaves in it. I just, oh yeah. So I wait a minute. I just realize that and see here again here, again, ritual being the educator, which not everybody's doing. And they say they spell it out, like on the bottle. So yeah. Okay. I actually really appreciate that. Um, again, going back to just educating me on what I'm putting into my body. Thanks. Something like, but yeah, it smells good. It smells like a gin to me. Yeah. I like gin in cocktails. I think if there's any cocktail that you're gonna have, and it has vodka in it, you could probably replace it with gin and it's gonna be 10 times better. It's very smooth. I don't drink it on its own. If you gimme a GNA tonic, I will give it back to you.<laugh> but<laugh>, I don't like Jen tonic. Don't that was gonna say there's not many anything in tonics that you're gonna catch tonic. Don't I just don't enjoy the taste of just regular alcohol to me, because also I'm normally drinking to get somewhere<laugh> right. And it's really hard to drink a lot of different alcohol. Like it's hard. Yeah. You start your body can't yeah. Take all those different taste. And I can't even remember like 21, 22 year old me used to consume like alcohol straight and that used to be a thing. And I don't know how cuz I can't do that now. Yeah. Do you think so, do you think that this hemp leaves, so it does have Erian pine? Oh, excuse me. I made that up. It's Siberian, pine coriander, berries, Angelica root hemp leaves. Sweet basil, English, cucumber, Juniper berries, green lemon, grass, cap, fruit, green pepper, corn, prickly, Ash, and peppermint. Do you think that this is like a deconstructed way to say neutropics or like, oh, C D like I, I feel like it is too. Yeah. Um, because again, it's like you every yeah. You can hide whatever you wanna to, in some ingredients, if you just gotta tell with the ingredients. So some people will just block it and say, oh, proprietary Nicks. They're like, actually we're gonna take the opposite approach. We're gonna throw it on the packaging and see if people see it. People know what it is. Yeah. So this is because I don't think we've talked about it yet in this episode, but we are interested in, you know, alcohol alternatives and that does include, uh, C B D mm-hmm<affirmative>. It includes hemp. And there are a lot of, you know, regulations around how that can be expressed on packaging. So I don't necessarily think that, you know, these company are necessarily trying to be, you know, deceptive, deceptive or unclear. I just think they can't like they can't put it. So yeah, because they, they can't explicitly say it because then this has CBD. Yeah. The next thing you know, it's like some mom or something, like someone tries it out and it's like, RA, you put X, Y, and Z. And that's why I felt the way it's like maybe on no, but once you put it explicitly on your packaging, you do open yourself up to additional scrutiny for lack of better words. Um, and then also, yeah, legally, and then here's the crazy part is I'm not outing anyone because I, I don't wanna out any brands, but there are some that by not putting it on that packaging are able to sell through major online resources in real life, in brick mortar, they're able to get on the shelves of certain grocery stores. And, and the way that they're able to do that is because they're saying, Hey, we're, we're just an alternative. We're we're not doing anything. We don't look at this. We don't know what this is. It it's fun. Put it on your shelf. It is zero proof. There's go again, no shade to anyone. This is, I think we're not talking about ritual, but no, not ritual.<laugh> not ritual, not ritual, but some we, yeah, whatever. We're just saying that this is like a way that companies skirt around fully educating the consumer and also just educating the retailer. Who's putting it on their shelves. I don't know. And, and it is, it is a little bit of the Wawa west. Not, not to the extent. Yeah. But it's, I think these type of drinks are not the Wawa west in some of the other products that have like THC in. And you're just like, what am I consuming? These are a little bit more controlled. I think, I feel like, yeah, but still there's this level of, Ooh, you don't really know what you're getting. Well, I mean, I think they have to be a little bit opaque about what they're offering in, in their proprietary blend. Right. Mm-hmm<affirmative> like, I think they have to be a little bit unclear for regulatory purposes. Yeah. Because the same list of ingredients, if you submit a same li the same list of ingredients phrased, one way you can be rejected. Yeah. Versus phrasing it another way. Completely mm-hmm<affirmative> and it's fine. Yeah. So with the 2018 hemp farm bill that legalized hemp, that's probably why they can say like, oh, there's hemp in here. Mm-hmm<affirmative> and there's no issue because it's being used in a beverage. Yeah. But, and I mean, hemp doesn't necessarily, hemp is not something that can get you high, so to speak. So depending on your body chemistry, but depending on your body chemistry, I guess, but it's not something that could get you high, but there might be some qualities or some, some developmental process. They've done something proprietary to replicate the relaxation because yeah, I do feel, I don't feel nothing drinking this. I do feel like a little bit relaxed and it could just be, like I said, mental, I, I was, as I was sitting here, like casually sipping it, I was like, this is absolutely the cocktail experience. Mm-hmm<affirmative>. And to your point, I could be feeling more relaxed. I don't, I, yeah. Like I'm chill. Like I feel like I'm chilling. Yeah. If someone served me this at their house or at a bar or something like that, I wouldn't be like, oh, you think just, cuz I'm not drinking. I want some childish. I don't know. It doesn't taste Shirley temple. No, this feels very elevated. I feel like I'm having a cocktail. There's definitely an experience here, which I, I like, I really do. I do. I think going back to your point about gifting, if someone brought this to me as a gift and well, or, or if I was thinking about giving someone a gift who was transitioning out of, you know, away from alcohol, this is like the perfect thing to give someone. I really enjoy it. Yeah. I, no complaints, no complaints. Not for me. Yeah. No complaints. I mean, I still do think. And, and you know, maybe we'll test out some of the cocktail recipes that they have in there. I think that'll be a lot of fun. That could be very cool. Yeah. I think we should test out some of the cocktail recipes in there. I, I know I'm drinking it straight just because I'm like, I need to know what is the, their product on its own before we add anything else to it. Yeah. But so far rituals very high up on my I ritual. Well, I just like it cuz it's not, it doesn't taste like spa water.<laugh> I'm sorry. I have this thing. If I'm gonna spend money on something. I do not like bland water flavored waters. It's either water or alcohol for me. I don't like the things that are in the, between spare me the flavored water that you're like trick your water. It's like, it smells like strawberry, but then it tastes like water. What is that?<laugh> just gimme the water. I am a big Lero person. I like that. You like playing with? I like playing with my, I don't know, but Chantel does not. I do not appreciate that at all. It's and I mean, but I'm I said it before, like if I'm consuming a liquid beverage, it's either alcohol or water. There is no in between, for me, I'm not sitting around drinking juicy juices and things of that. Okay.<laugh> say just gimme water. Okay. So if you hear Chantel say it taste like bottle water. It means she does not. I don't like it. Like it<laugh> noted. Okay. So wait whiskey. Right. Go ahead. A breakdown. We're moving on now to whiskey alternative. I am. I have not tried this yet and I, my expectations are kind of high and I'm nervous. Oh no. Cause whiskey is my, I really like whiskey on its own. Yeah. Cause you, you did say you can enjoy whiskey on its own. So, so you're okay. I mean, so I'm nervous. Don't be too nervous and don't also, it smells like it smells like alcohol, but like, like alcohol, not like, oh no, it doesn't smell. Not like, oh, okay. Let me just get outta side. Okay, go ahead. Okay. Wait now just make sure you, you feeling good? Yeah, I'm fine. All right. So, so the ritual, like the lead to a date, the whiskey alternative, it says all of the Oak, the vanilla caramel and so warming heat of whiskey. So, so warming heat. Okay. And from, uh, the description on the bottle, it says it's made with American Oak Madagascar, vanilla Capcom, fruit, sugar. Flos um, what is sugar plumed?<laugh> Mesquite smoke, warm caramel. He please caramels again. Green pepper, corn, prickly Ash and toasted spices. I think we have uncovered mm-hmm<affirmative> the neutropic. And it also could just be like the throwing the hip leaves with some of those other botanicals is what's creating that like just kind of Zen vibe. Yes. Okay. Oh yeah. I get what you said about the scent. Yeah. It's I, it smells like alcohol, right? Yeah. Rubbing alcohol, rubbing alcohol with vanilla on top. Like okay. Like somebody slips some vanilla on top of the rubbing alcohol. Right, right. Ooh, that is so it's kind of funny. That's so funky. All right. Well we'll try anyway. And FYI, I see her and I are probably pouring like less than a shot. Maybe, maybe this is a shot. Yeah. About an ounce of each of these. So it's not like we're over here. Chugging, full glasses of it. But we are getting enough to just have like an educated opinion. Mm-hmm<affirmative> if by the end of the podcast, our words becomes right. Then you know that there's something in these dreams because we feel a little relaxed. We feel, I don't feel relaxed. We're feeling a little bit more. I did sink into the chair. I know like, sort of on lean over here and I'm not sure why I not lean like super lean, but like, I'm just, my a little is like resting here. Like I feel fine, but, but also keep in mind Sierra and I can, we talk a lot and we tend to crack each other up. So it might be enjoying each other company because we don't know what we can be on the phone rifting for hours. And we have so many stories, but anyhow, yes, this, I do feel, I feel fine. Like I feel good. Feel good for, like I said, Sunday, feel social. I feel, I feel social. I do too. I do feel social. Like I don't feel. And sometimes it takes a lot for me to cuz most times I don't wanna talk. Like, it sounds weird. Like I don't wanna talk to random people. Oh, okay. That's that's when I'm in my, when I'm amongst my people y'all know when I'm amongst my people. Oh yeah. Yeah. I'm talking I'm or I'm having a good old time. Yeah. But like random one-on-one conversations can be a little bit tricky for me. And I think it's mainly because one I'm not super interested, but two, I never know what I wanna talk about. And it's like, eh, I don't agree with that because I think you're really good with meeting people and like talking to them straight out of the gate. I've observed to do it many times. And I think you make a good impression when you're just talking to that's like the two minutes though. That's like the, no, I know. I don't expect you to dive into your entire life story with them. But I think you just like, you are very fun. Like you try to meet people and get them a, to play games immediately. Yes. Playing games. Cause playing games are fun. No, come on. Yes. No. It also takes, it takes the pressure of the conversation. It's like, I don't really wanna know everything about you, but if we started playing basketball right now, this would be fun. Or like beer pong or something like that. Or flip up. Yes I am. I am definitely. Maybe I'm still a child at heart or something. I like to play with folks. That's how I get to know them. I don't know. Okay. Well, how do you feel about this? I don't, I don't know. We're trying the whiskey alternative. Let's try it. I, I just, I don't, it doesn't taste like whiskey. No. And I don't know what it tastes like, but it's whiskey spice here. I get the black pepper corns and I think that's like, no, I get the black pepper corn in tequila. Right. I don't know why put in the whiskey. Yeah. I don't know. I don't know about that. I don't know about this one. I don't know about two taste of it, so okay. Maybe the, I try it with no ice. I was gonna say, so the, the gin absolutely gives gin vibes. The tequila gave tequila vibes. This whiskey is giving a taste. Yeah. But not necessarily like not necess, not necessarily a whiskey taste, if that makes sense. No. Right. It's it's not bad. So had it not. So, so some brands will do this. Like they just curate a taste and it's not meant to emulate anything. Yeah. Had this not said whiskey alternative the taste. Isn't it's not horrible. It's just not whiskey. You know? I think what I like about whiskey is the richness, the rich flavor. Mm-hmm<affirmative> the sweet complexity. Like the Oak and honey and vanilla. You can really taste the oakiness. Yeah. And I don't know if they have gotten there yet with this. I don't, I don't know if this is there yet. I mean, I do think they could get there, but the age taste is really what makes a whiskey taste. I mean, they have the Oak in there though, like it, but he taste age and it doesn't taste like, no, the, I don't know. I can't taste the, the barrels, I guess I'm expecting that's one there. Yeah. I guess I'm expecting whiskey. And I mean, I don't think this happened with tequila or gin for some reason, but for whatever reason, that's, you're not expecting the, the process to be included in the taste with ski. You expect the process to be included in the taste. Yeah. I don't know if this is this is it? Well, it's fine. I mean, look, they got three bottles in there. Right? Look their thing on the gin and the tequila. Oh, it's so funny now. So like lead up, we were so excited. Okay. Well, but here again, that probably you, this is a lot to have in your house. And if you are someone who is looking for an adult beverage at the end of the day, I would actually recommend throw two ounces of this on some ice. Not necessarily the whiskey per se, not the whiskey. I'd, I'd probably throw the gym, the tequila on some ice, two ounce of this and go sit in front of the TV. I wouldn't be mad at that. I, you know, I will say that I still feel like I'm getting the adult experience even with this whiskey alternative that I don't think is exactly measuring up to whiskey. Yeah. Um, but I do still feel like I'm getting the adult beverage experience. Yeah. So I don't know. Maybe the secret is the, again, keep in mind that, uh, uh, these all have zero calories except for the whiskey that does have 10 calories in it. Yes.<laugh>. I mean like seriously, think about it like a glass of wine. What is the average calories in the glass of wine? Like a hundred hundred, yeah. A hundred calories in a glass of wine and that's it like four? Yeah. You, the four is probably like 215 calories, half a bottling to a Golet<laugh> and as bad as like what you just drink 500 calories watching real Housewives. Well, so I will say that it does have more sugar than the others. Mm-hmm<affirmative> it has one gram of added sugar and where the rest, less than a gram. Yeah. The, they probably could have took the sugar out and maybe it would've had a better, I don't know. I know. I dunno. That's not that bad. So I have to ask you on a scale of one to five mm-hmm<affirmative> five being the bees knees, the greatest thing you've ever tasted mm-hmm<affirmative> something that you would stock on your shelf in your home and one being, throw it away. It's who made this<laugh> um, I would say four. Yeah. Yeah. It's pretty good. Yeah. Overall, even with the only, even with the, you know, somewhat disappointing whiskey alternative, I would say in terms of drinking experience, in terms of taste complexity, I would say this is great. I mean, it's giftable, there's a lot of education. Mm-hmm<affirmative> you get a recipe book like you could actually, if you ha are of the mind to do so, create cocktails with this, you can be creative with this. To me, it's worth the money mm-hmm<affirmative> um, to try. So I would definitely say like, this has a lot to offer and, and I, I really like it. So I'd say it's four. Yeah. I'm actually, so I'm in the same wavelength. I'm gonna throw out my 4.5. Oh, dang. 4.5. Yeah. Cause the only, almost just didn't know you were doing half point only thing that I would, you know, it's like if the whiskey wasn't what I expected. Right. However, if they didn't label it a whiskey alternative, it actually has taste mm-hmm<affirmative> it's just not whiskey. Right. Love the packaging, love the educational content, the mixology book that's in there. I think all of this, it's a really great experience. And I, I don't know. I mean, because we're still kind of questioning the neutropic benefit. I, I mean, I do feel chill, so yeah. Yeah. I don't know, 4.5 only because like, wait, I think someone would think would have to knock my socks off to be like a five, but overall really great experience. Would you drink this in a bar? Yes. Cause I would. I absolutely would. And I think that's the true Testament of whether or not it it's an alternative. So if I were out and just like they said, if I had a cocktail before this and I'm like, I'm chilling for the rest of the night, I would absolutely say, Hey, can you pour me a margarita? But can you use ritual? Absolutely. Absolutely. I, I would, I would absolutely do that or on it sound like if I, I know that like tonight I'm DD, I would, Hey, can you make me a margarita use ritual? No alcohol, no alcohol. That'd be really great. So yeah, I think that is the true test of whether or not it's an alternative. Is, is it really replacing your alcohol consumption for the night? I would say absolutely. I could definitely drink this all night. I could drink it, you know, I, as a second or third drink, like if I'm, you know, trying to chill and mm-hmm,<affirmative> don't wanna drink that much, but wanna be included. I, I would definitely reach for this it's complex. It's good. I like it. I feel like an adult<laugh> so do I? Yeah. I feel like, I feel like it feels, it feels grown up. I don't feel like, you know, the, the day drunkenness of like, of picture of mimosa, like I'm, I'm not going drunk shopping. No. Yeah, no, but that's yeah. That's what I'm saying. I can down after this and that feels good. Like I could work out and then have this and then go to bed and that's just to, you have obligations as a person that you need to, to complete you. And I think, yeah, so I'm I'm here. I like ritual. Kudos. The ritual high five. You guys virtual. This is actually really good. So hopefully if you're listening and you are like this week, I'm gonna try to replace two or three of my drinks. Mm-hmm<affirmative> I'm gonna say, go ahead and opt for the ritual. This is good. Good stuff. Good stuff. All right. Well, we will catch you on the next episode where we will be reviewing another drink. Am I slurring now?<laugh> we're not. She's kidding. Kidding, but we will catch you on the next episode where we will be doing more reviews and we look for, to seeing you then well, until then, whether you're drinking tonight or not, I think you should enjoy yourself and be responsible. Thanks. Good night. Good.
Speaker 3:Thanks for listening to we're not drinking tonight. We love to hear from y'all. What are you drinking or not drinking? Are you doing a dry January? Are you pregnant? Maybe on a health journey. Just not trying to be hangover. Tell us about it. If you like what you've heard, then please give us a five star rating, write a review comment and subscribe to download the latest episodes. We're on IG at spirited sips. So if you try one of the beverages we've discussed today at us and let us know what you think. Thanks for listening. See you next time. Bye
Speaker 4:<silence>.
