Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

So, Ritual Zero Proof Tequila Alternative... no. Just no. This isn’t simply an insult to tequila or alcohol; it’s an all-out assault on the senses. It’s just wrong. Don’t do it. If you want a tequila alternative, drink ginseng tea or concentrate. The only saving grace is there are zero calories, sweeteners, or any of that. Tried doing a straight shot, and felt worse than any of my early attempts at drinking at a younger age. Tried over ice, and it tasted like the same regret, with a hit of cold. Tried it in the recommended Paloma recipe, and felt like I wasted an off-brand grapefruit soda. The label claims there are ten different flavors, and this is big part of the problem. You can taste each individual flavor separately, none of which made me remotely think “this kinda tastes like tequila” for a second, and for half of them, that’s definitely a very bad thing. The reason peaty flavors like charred or smoked woods work in good liquors is because it mellows into it, where it becomes pronounced without fighting to stand out. This tastes like they added half a bottle of liquid smoke. Granted, when the fruits and floral notes kick in, it’s nice. But they get overpowered so quickly by this blast of black pepper with a charcoal chaser. It tastes nothing like tequila. It doesn’t even come close to watered-down Mezcal. Imagine what Sunny D is to fresh-squeezed orange juice, add liquid smoke and a few peppercorns, and you’ll have a close approximation to how disappointing this is compared to real tequila. I cannot stress this enough: just don’t do it. You would be better off paying someone $25 to slap the tastebuds out of your mouth. And to the folks at Ritual: let me know if/when you come up with formula 2.0. There are serious improvements needed here and I would love to give it a second chance. But in its current state, I can’t even recommend this to anyone I want to see suffer.