How To Store Your Non Alcoholic Drinks

You’ve stocked your bar with all the best non alcoholic spirits and wine, and your fridge is stacked with non alcoholic beer, but you’re finding there’s just not enough time in the world to get through it all. How long can you keep all these delicious drinks before they go bad? Storing non alcoholic drinks is similar to storing regular alcoholic products, with a few minor caveats.

Storing Non Alcoholic Wine

In the wine domain, the older a quality vintage, the better the wine is. This doesn’t apply to non alcoholic wines. Ian Blessing, sommelier and co-founder/owner of All The Bitter non alcoholic bitters, explains why.

“What keeps regular wine preserved, and why it's able to age for hundreds of years in some cases, is primarily the alcohol content,” Blessing explained. “From a food science perspective, non alcoholic wine is more of a food product and less of a ‘wine’. Most wines will actually list a best by date on them in the same way regular food and drink does, but typically the shelf life will be 3-4 years at most.”

Leitz Eins Zwei Zero is a premium non alcoholic wine made at one of Germany’s top wineries and imported into Canada through Vinelands Estates Winery. Tobias Fiebrandt, Assistant Winemaker at Vinelands, spent many years working at the winery in Germany and explains the quality their customers expect is extended into the non alcoholic wine they make and thus the shelf-life.

“I have tasted some of our non alcoholic products after two years, and they were still fine. It reflects how much effort we’ve put into winemaking in the first place, that the product tastes great even after two years.”

Fiebrandt explains that initially a wine has some CO2 from the winemaking process, which softens and dissipates after a few months which is when he actually prefers to drink a non alcoholic wine.

As for what happens once it’s opened, Blessing says his usual framework is the same as regular wine.

“Consuming within 3 days is preferable, and you'll start to notice some oxidation between 4 days and a week. After a week it has definitely gone bad.”

He suggests refrigeration will help extend the life of your opened non alcoholic wine.

Another tip from the certified sommelier?

“Open your bottle, and then decant it just like you would with a regular wine. 9/10 NA wines I've tasted have been considerably better the next day, after they’ve aerated a little bit!”

Alcohol Free Spirits

A full-proof spirit also has the benefit of alcohol to preserve it, which is a detriment to zero proof spirits when it comes to storage. The essences and extracts used to develop many of these products are shelf stable only for a short period of time. Jo-Anne Reynolds, founder of Canadian non alcoholic spirits brand SexyAF Spirits, says her products are shelf stable once opened for up to 12 weeks, and the sediment you sometimes see in non alcoholic bottles is normal.

“Our product is all natural and so natural sediment may occur. We suggest a shake before using them.”

Australian company Lyre’s Spirits Co brand ambassador Maria Denton explains how to store your alcohol free spirits.

“All bottles should be stored in a cool place out of direct sunlight because heat accelerates deterioration. Once opened, Lyre’s Spirits can be stored at room temp for up to 90 days or so, although the flavors are best preserved when open bottles are refrigerated.”

Buying a small bar fridge for your spirits bottles is the way to go. Here’s one we’re eyeballing on Amazon!

If you’re a vermouth lover, you will know that you always keep opened vermouth in the fridge - after all, they are a distant relative to wine and have similar oxidation properties. The same goes for the non alcoholic options in this category.

“There are three that I recommend always keeping in the fridge once opened—Apertif Rosso, Dry Apertif, and Coffee Originale,” Denton explained. “These have the most sensitive essences and extracts, and benefit the most by being kept cold.”

Non Alcoholic Beer

Non alcoholic beer follows the same general principles as regular beer. It has a longer shelf life than other non alcoholic products, as long as it's unopened. Libra Craft Brewery head brewmaster Mike “Hogie” Hogan suggests keeping your cans in a cool, dry place.

“Storing cans too warm over the course of several weeks or months would lead to flavour degradation though but the best way to avoid that would be to buy smaller frequent quantities and drink them fresh!”

He suggests that the shelf life is approximately one year and that after that, the fresh and crisp taste you expect will be reduced although it's still safe to drink.

Regardless of what your non alcoholic drink preferences are, the key takeaway is that fresher is always better and if you’re storing products long term keep them cool and dry in order to preserve them for as long as possible.