Lyre’s is a manufacturer of non-alcoholic spirits and ready-to-drink non alcoholic spirits. Their two most recent offerings, American Malt & Cola and Dark ‘N Spicy, brings their total RTD SKUs to five and we figured that it’s a good time to try the line.

These products are indeed based off the non-alcoholic spirits Lyre’s has been selling in 750ml bottles, made with what Lyre’s describes as “the finest all natural essences, extracts, and distillates from the four corners of the globe.” 

Having sampled Lyre’s full range of non-alcoholic spirits, our issue was certainly never with the quality or underlying flavor. Instead, we had concerns about the consumer’s willingness to purchase an entire 750ml bottle that is both expensive (~$30 USD) and requires some mixology and experimentation to create something that you can actually drink on a regular basis.

And that’s where the RTD comes in. All five of these products are tightly executed versions of things that are familiar and popular alcoholic beverages. Here’s a rundown of the five flavors:

• Amalfi Spritz - A play on an Aperol Spritz, this product has bitter notes of orange, rhubarb, and a light herbal finish. 

• G&T - This is a pretty impressive non-alcoholic version of a gin & tonic, complete with quinine, juniper, lime, and orange notes. There’s even a slight “burn” to it, which nicely tricks the palate into thinking it contains gin.

• Classico - This product appears to be a play on a slightly sweeter prosecco sparkling wine.  This feels like the only product where one might add some other ingredients to it in order to make a sparkling wine cocktail, but it’s tasty by itself, too.

• Dark ‘N Spicy - Lyre’s has done a really nice job of creating a non-alc version of the classic mix of rum and ginger beer. Unlike some of the other NA versions we’ve tried, this one doesn’t just taste like soda -- there’s actually a base flavor that definitely tastes like rum.

• American Malt & Cola - A whiskey and cola riff, this product has a spicy cola base to it along with a flavor that definitely resembles a rye whiskey. It’s straightforward and enjoyable, especially over ice. 

On the nutritional front, the products have 45 to 70 calories per 8.45 oz. can along with 10 to 17 grams of added sugars. Sugar is used in all five of the flavors while some of them have glucose syrup and or monk fruit as well. In comparison to their alcoholic counterparts, these products come in lighter in all cases.

When it comes to branding, Lyre’s has taken the styling of their flagship, which we’d describe as sophisticated and polished, as a starting point. It has a retro penciled style applied to both the lettering and the illustrations on each can. The RTD cans get a bit of an upgrade (compared with the 750mls) when it comes to the way they display the logo: there’s now a white box behind it. This makes this area, which houses the logo, flavor name, and “impossibly crafted non-alcoholic cocktail” really pop. For those consumers who are a bit more curious about what these products are all about, there’s additional descriptive copy at the bottom and on the side panel, but we find these products to be pretty intuitive without reading all of this.

Lyre’s sophisticated, polished, and eye-catching look is definitely appealing, but, more importantly, we really like how the products are proud of what they are rather than talking about what they aren’t. It sends the message that these are high quality rather than cheapened versions of something else. That being said, we think Lyre’s approach should have a great chance of more broad adoption with both consumers that don’t consume alcohol at all and those who are simply sober-curious -- both will see these products and be curious.

In the end, we view Lyre’s RTD entries as a game changer for the non-alc spirits category as they are far and away the best products that we’ve tried to date. They offer no-compromise flavor and slick branding in a convenient format that seems like just the right portion size.