After deciding to give up drinking for a while, founder Lisa King could not find a good alternative to an alcoholic drink. This motivated her to start AF Drinks, a socially acceptable alcohol-free alternative.
G&T without the G
AF Drinks began with Lisa’s favourite – a classic gin and tonic, appropriately titled Classic AF. Even though she is a happy non-drinker, Lisa missed her G&Ts. The ingredients are juniper, quinine, a crisp spritz of lemon, and Afterglow™ (more on Afterglow™ later), yet, even without the alcohol, Classic AF still has the same delicious taste as an alcoholic gin and tonic.
Their G&T range soon expanded to include several familiar flavours:
Cucumber AF: The freshness of the cucumber compliments the bittersweet taste of the tonic and tang of the gin [shop here]
Pink AF: named after both the colour and the ingredients, this drink mixes the classic G&T with pink grapefruit and rose for an invigorating cocktail [shop here]
However, not content to limit their non-alcoholic drinks range to gin, AF Drinks released their take on a Cuba Libre and a Dark and Stormy.
Cuba Libre: Spanish for “Free Cuba”, it originated at the start of the 20th century in Cuba. The rum, Coke and lime cocktail soon became the drink of the Cuban independence movement [shop here]
Dark and Stormy: Originating in Bermuda in the 1990s, the dark and stormy mixes rum and ginger ale, with lemon and lime [shop here]
Each of these drinks contains no more than 0.5% alcohol. They still have the delicious taste of their namesakes, but without the alcohol. However, one ingredient featured in every of AF Drinks’ products is Afterglow™ – something designed to recreate the warmth of drinking alcohol.
Afterglow™
AF Drinks found that one of the missing ingredients in most non-alcoholic beverages is “the pleasant warmth that comes from sipping on a glass of wine or a boozy cocktail.” Thus, they created Afterglow™ – a non-alcoholic way to mimic the pleasure of drinking alcohol. AF Drinks are coy on the ingredients; however, they reassure consumers that it is completely natural, safe, vegan, and gluten-free.
Founder Lisa King even affirms the effectiveness of Afterglow™ “Over a period, I can feel my face going red, even though they have no alcohol; it’s a really great, adult, complex drink.”
