“At Death & Co, we tend to keep them refrigerated after they’ve been opened and try and move through them within a few weeks,” says Matthew Belanger, bar manager at the famed bar’s LA outpost. “I also don’t order excessive amounts, just enough for one or two weeks.” “To be honest, we go through Seedlip so fast we haven’t had a problem with it,” says Carl Brown at Kaiyo Rooftop in San Francisco. ![]() Most bartenders haven’t had to worry about expiration dates. You can still make a great cocktail, it’s just ‘less’ than what we want you to experience.” After 10 months, it’s slightly less impactful. ![]() With the mezcal, when you first open it, the smokiness hits you right up front. “I would say the intensity of the flavors diminishes slightly. “It’s never a safety issue, it’s more the quality of product,” Solis says. Most or all products available don’t sour or spoil, they simply lose their oomph (though I personally wouldn’t play too fast and loose with juice-based products). The good news is your zero-proof booze isn’t going to poison you once it’s past the best-by date. Visit, sample, ask all the questions: O’Malley and his team will answer. The company recently opened the country’s first visitor-friendly, non-alcohol spirits distillery and tasting room in Hood River, OR. “People ask extremely detailed questions about their bourbon: What’s in the mash bill? Where is it produced? Is the corn non-GMO? But the goalposts for non-alcohol is ‘does it taste right’ and ‘does it work in a cocktail.’” O’Malley points to a general lack of transparency in the NA spirits space, and Wilderton aims to change that. “It surprises me a bit that people aren’t asking a lot of these sorts of questions,” says Seth O’Malley, co-founder of Wilderton Non-Alcohol Spirits. “We could have amped up the preservatives to give them a longer shelf life, but I didn’t think there was a need to keep a two-year-open product.” The result is an opened-bottle shelf life of nine to 10 months and unopened of 12 to 24 months. Generally, a preservative like sodium benzoate or potassium sorbate is added to create a shelf-stable product and protect against yeast, mold and bacteria. No matter the process, they lack the high-alcohol content that acts as both a clarifier and preservative. Many, like the JAS ready-to-drink Paloma Libre, include ashwagandha, an herbal adaptogen that claims to create a relaxed vibe similar to those first few sips of alcohol. Others actually are distilled, sometimes from an alcohol base that is then removed, sometimes infusions in a water base. The NA umbrella encapsulates different production methods: some are an infusion of fruits, herbs and spices in a viscous water, blended with thickeners like xanthan gum, glycerol or juice. For Cut Above Zero Proof Mezcal, you find best 10 months after opening.Ĭheck out a specific product’s ingredients (they’re classified as a food item), and the “best by” dates make sense. De Soi (pronounced “de swah”) Sparkling Non-Alcoholic Aperitif recommends refrigeration after opening. ![]() My Damrak Virgin 0.0 Gin? March 2023 (in extremely tiny type). Sure enough, on the back label of that bottle of Pathfinder: Best before date: See bottle. I ran home (metaphorically) and checked my stash. Sorry, what?īut yes, it turns out the hottest trend in spirits has a sell-by date. “We normally do, but right now we have only one because all the others expired in the warehouse and couldn’t be sold,” the clerk answered. ![]() I mean, obviously, by now stores are stocking a ton of no-alcohol (NA) labels, depending on the state. The other day, I swung by my local mega liquor store and asked, “Do you carry zero alcohol spirits?” My question was aimed at how they’re organized (All in one place? With their respective boozy counterparts? In the alley?).
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