Going dry this month? Susy Atkins tips superior spirits without the sting

Anyone doing Dry January or just cutting back on booze can be inspired by the new wave of non-alcoholic spirits now available. It wasn’t always so. After the enormous success of Seedlip, the first breakthrough drink in this style, quite a few others leapt into the market and I’m here to tell you some were absolute stinkers. But lining up the latest no-alc distilled drinks to come my way it’s clear this quality has now improved markedly.

I especially like Bax Botanics Alcohol-Free Spirits. Made by husband and wife team Chris and Rose Bax in North Yorkshire, they sing with bright and natural flavours. The couple are long- time “wild food tutors”, with 30 years’ experience cheffing, teaching and consulting to the food industry, in particular about foraging. Their pupils often asked to buy the drinks created on the courses, so Chris and Rose started distilling with a copper pot still, using ingredients that were either wild or sourced from fair-trade organic farmers, and created two new drinks. The process is “similar to making perfume”, says Rose. They macerate the botanicals in the still with water instead of alcohol, heat it and then collect the vapours, which contain the natural oils as a distillate. I love both their products, but the scented verbena version is decidedly summery, so I tip the sea buckthorn below. It’s good to see a company mindful about “treading lightly on the planet”, as Rose puts it, too.

Elsewhere the Savyll set of alcohol-free cocktails is a pleasant surprise, in that there are many oversweet, over-flavoured pre-made cocktails of every alcohol level around. These have brisk and balanced flavours, from the aromatic, crisp and fresh Savyll Gin and Tonic to the lime-zesty, minty Savyll Mojito. I’m not as keen on its Bellini, but the Moscow Mule ( below) is a winter winner.

Then there’s Salcombe Gin’s latest launch, New London Light Non- Alcoholic Spirit (masterofmalt.com, £26.40 for 70cl; salcombegin.com, £27.50). I’m aware of recommending two drinks from this distillery in quick succession (I tipped its gift set before Christmas) but it would be quite wrong to omit this from a round-up of brilliant new non-alcs. With its layers of Seville orange, warm ginger and sage, it’s a winner with tonic or in cocktails in place of gin.

If you crave a very bold flavour, look to Feragaia, a Scottish alcohol-free spirit made with 14 “responsibly sourced land and sea botanicals”. It’s a more challenging sip, pale amber, with a very herbal bent. It took me a couple of sips to get my head around its earthy, rooty notes (its botanicals include the shrublike seaweed serrated wrack) but now I like it, and its strong character suits the season – try it with tonic or in rich cocktails like a mock negroni. It’s available from masterofmalt.com, £23.95, and feragaia.com, £24.95, for 50cl.

Smoky flavours also work best in winter, which brings me to my last tip, Fluère, below, a clever idea from a Dutch producer. There’s a rather appealing Raspberry version too ( unsmoked) for those who want a fruitier drink. Plenty of options, then, to keep us in good spirits.