Review of Ritual Zero Proof Tequila Alternative

Ritual Zero Proof recently launched its third booze alternative - Tequila.

The new flavor joins RZP's existing Gin and Whiskey Alternatives (which we reviewed here).

These non-alcoholic spirits aren't meant to be enjoyed neat, but we still taste them that way to get the truest expression of the flavor.

Then we mix a cocktail - in this case, you guessed it, a margarita. But before we get to the taste, a quick, note on the ingredients...

Ritual Zero Proof lists the ingredients for its drinks on the front label. And the Tequila Alternative has a lot of notes you'd expect to see...

Blue agave flower, Mexican lime, sea salt, mesquite smoke.

And the color of the liquid definitely looks like tequila - it's got the burnt yellow hue of a bottle of Jose Cuervo.

There's nothing subtle about your first sip of Ritual's Tequila Alternative.

It's super spicy. It actually gives you that warm, down in your belly feeling you'd get if you were actually taking a shot of Cuervo.

The drink starts sweet, then gets very spicy (along with some green flavors like bell pepper). And it leaves you with a bitter, woody aftertaste.

Again, these NA spirits aren't meant to be enjoyed on their own. But we can see what Ritual Zero Proof is setting us up for in a cocktail.

For our margarita, we kept it simple...

We mixed equal parts Tequila Alternative and fresh-squeezed lime juice to half a part of simple syrup.

If you want to try the recipe at home, just use 2 oz. of Tequila Alternative, 2 oz. of lime juice and 1 oz. of simple.

And don't forget to salt the rim.

The sour and sweet in the margarita dull the spice. But the wood notes from the Tequila Alternative still shine through.

And you get a lingering tequila flavor on the tongue. The flavor actually triggered something in our heads - back to the old days when we would drink a bit too much Jose Cuervo.

We're not saying it's a flavor we missed all too much... but the Tequila Alternative hits the note.

You can pick up a bottle of Ritual Zero Proof Tequila Alternative for $26.99 on the TZP store. For what it's worth, the Tequila is the highest-rated of the three flavors on Amazon with four stars.