Highly Delicious, Low Alcohol Cocktails

Maybe you’re looking to reduce your sugar intake. Maybe you’re wanting to cut back on alcohol or focus on mindful drinking. Or maybe you just want something light-bodied, a refreshing-tasting drink you can enjoy during a hot day. No matter your reasons, here are some of our favorite choices for lighter, low alcohol drinks.

What Are Drinks with Low Alcohol?

First, let’s talk about alcohol content. While there are no hard and fast rules or definitions for what can be considered a low alcohol cocktail, they have a relatively lower ABV, or Alcohol By Volume, when compared to other drinks. ABV is a standard unit of measurement regarding the amount of alcohol as a percentage of a beverage’s entire volume. For example, many beers have around a 5% ABV, wine is around 12%, and for spirits like vodka, 40% is the standard.

Adding additional non-alcoholic liquid to your vodka cocktail can bring the ABV down. As you add more mixers, you add more volume, so the percentage of alcohol to overall drink size drops. With a little math, you can actually calculate the ABV of any drink yourself.

Something to look out for is the amount of spirits a recipe calls for and opt for smaller portions. All of the following cocktail recipes have 1.5oz of GREY GOOSE® or less per serving.

Why Choose Low ABV Cocktails?

Like we mentioned above, there are many reasons why you might opt for low alcohol drinks. You could be focusing on more mindful drinking, or you might want something with a light and refreshing flavor. Low alcohol drinks often have fewer calories, so you might be searching for lighter cocktails. Whatever the reason, we have plenty of delicious, light-tasting options.

Low ABV Drinks to Order at the Bar

When you’re out and about, the pour of the alcohol is literally out of your hands. But you can still have drinks made according to your low-ABV desires. Just ask the bartender for your drink to be served “tall,” which means a single pour in a taller glass with more ice and mixers. You can also simply ask for a single in a bigger glass. Or you can just be straightforward and ask for the cocktail you want, but request they go easy on the alcohol. They may also have a great low ABV cocktail in mind that they recommend.

Our Favorite Low ABV Cocktails

If you’re mixing things up at home, you have even more control of how much alcohol is incorporated into your drink. Here are some of our favorites.

#1. Nice & Easy: Grey Goose Essences & Soda

To start with, let’s look at something simple, delicious and refreshingly tasty. Grey Goose Essences are botanically infused spirits with an ABV of 30%. Available in three unique, vibrant flavors, all you have to do is mix them with soda water for an easy-to-make, easy-to-enjoy cocktail. Try the Strawberry Lemongrass & Soda, Watermelon Basil & Soda and the White Peach Rosemary & Soda.

If you want a Grey Goose Essences cocktail that goes beyond just soda water, try the Market Fresh, which adds just a ½ oz of vermouth, the Strawberry Fields, which simply uses a vermouth rinse, or the Clear Skies, which adds a dash of bitters.

#2. Perfect Pairings: Grey Goose Vodka & Flavored Soda

If you choose to go with Grey Goose Vodka, which has an ABV of 40%, you can still lower its alcohol content and elevate its flavor by adding different types of soda. The Boardwalk adds grapefruit soda while the Flying East uses the unexpected base of a lime and yuzu soda. You can also explore more ways to create your own vodka seltzer.

#3. Cutting Cocktails with Juice

There are many vodka cocktails that mix vodka with fruit juice for a low ABV drink, like the Cape Fizz, with its cranberry juice and soda. The Sea Breeze adds some grapefruit juice alongside cranberry juice. And the Frenchy Cocktail mixes Grey Goose La Poire with both pineapple juice and a splash of cranberry juice for a delightful flavor combination.

#4. Mixers to the Max

Whether you’re working with soda water, flavored soda, juice or any other non-alcoholic mixer, you can always adjust the ratio to meet your needs. When creating any low alcohol cocktail, proportions matter. You can go a little lighter on the spirit, and then a little heavier on the mixers, to create your own low ABV beverage. Learn more about why your mixer matters.

#5. Tall Glass, Shorter on Alcohol

You can also serve your cocktails in a tall glass with extra ice to bring down the alcohol content even more. While the Classic Martini Cocktail may be known for being a stiff drink, you can find a lower ABV version of it in our Long Martini Cocktail — vodka, vermouth and ginger ale served in a tall glass.

So whatever your reason for choosing a low alcohol drink, you’re certainly not short on choices. Have fun experimenting with the recipes above, or search through all of our light-tasting cocktails.