Abstinence Non-Alcoholic Lemon Aperitif

It's zesty and citrus-forward, with a bittersweet lemon character. Natural botanicals — African Wormwood, Buchu, and cooling Aloe — bring depth behind the bright lemon.

Make a light lemon spritz with non-alcoholic sparkling wine and seltzer water, or shake it hard with plenty of ice and serve it up as a bracingly bittersweet shakerato. It also works as a base in just about any non-alcoholic cocktail you like.

Yes — drizzle it over lemon sorbet and top with dealcoholized bubbly for a refreshing after-dinner treat.

Abstinence is made by Abstinence Spirits, a non-alcoholic spirits and aperitif brand founded in South Africa in 2020 and owned by Curated Beverages Ltd. The drinks are produced in Cape Town, using botanicals from the surrounding Cape Floral Kingdom, and the range includes the Lemon Aperitif, Blood Orange Aperitif, and the malty, smoky Epilogue X. The brand runs a separate US operation, Abstinence Spirits USA, which launched stateside in 2022 out of Oakland, California.

For a drink to be legally non-alcoholic, it has to be 0.5% alcohol by volume or less. While this doesn't make it totally alcohol-free, it does mean it is impossible to experience any intoxication or other psychoactive effects from alcohol. For context, a slice of sourdough bread or a ripe banana has more alcohol by volume than any of our drinks!

We carry a few hundred different products on our website with all different ingredients. We suggest you consult with your doctor regarding specific ingredients. Everything we carry is non-alcoholic-- less than 0.5% ABV-- and very popular with our customers who are pregnant (and those who aren't, too)!

Some of our products contain adaptogens, nootropics, and other herbs that are not recommended for people who are pregnant, but we're not doctors and do not give medical advice. Every body and pregnancy is different, so we suggest talking to a healthcare professional if you're unsure.

Not all of our non-alcoholic beverages are 100% alcohol-free. Some contain trace amounts of alcohol at less than 0.5% alcohol by volume.  This is consistent with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s labeling policy, which permits the use of the term, “non-alcoholic” to describe a product that contains less than 0.5% alcohol by volume.

If you are looking for products that are 0.0% alcohol by volume, look for the "Alcohol-Free" badge on the product page.

Non-alcoholic spirits are specifically developed for mixing in non-alcoholic cocktails. These spirits taste great when mixed with soda water, tonic water, sodas, juices, and even other non-alcoholic spirits, but they might taste a little weird on their own. You're welcome to try them neat (we can't stop you!), but we don't recommend assessing whether or not you like a non-alcoholic spirit without mixing it, first.