An alcohol-free or non-alcoholic drink, also known as a temperance drink, is a version of an

alcoholic drink Drinks containing alcohol (drug), alcohol are typically divided into three classes—beers, wines, and Distilled beverage, spirits—with alcohol content typically between 3% and 50%. Drinks with less than 0.5% are sometimes considered Non-al ...

made without

alcohol Alcohol may refer to: Common uses * Alcohol (chemistry), a class of compounds * Ethanol, one of several alcohols, commonly known as alcohol in everyday life ** Alcohol (drug), intoxicant found in alcoholic beverages ** Alcoholic beverage, an alco ...

, or with the alcohol removed or reduced to almost zero. These may take the form of a

non-alcoholic mixed drink A non-alcoholic mixed drink (also known as virgin cocktail, temperance drink, "zero proof" drink or mocktail) is a cocktail-style beverage made without alcohol. Non-alcoholic mixed drinks date back to when cocktails emerged, appearing as "temp ...

non-alcoholic beer Low-alcohol beer is beer with little or no alcohol by volume that aims to reproduce the taste of beer while eliminating or reducing the inebriating effect, carbohydrates, and calories of regular alcoholic brews. Low-alcohol beers can come in diff ...

, and are widely available where alcoholic drinks are sold.

Scientific definition

Low-alcoholic drink

Sparkling

apple cider Apple cider (also called sweet cider, soft cider, or simply cider) is the name used in the United States and Canada for an unfiltered, unsweetened, non-alcoholic beverage made from apples. Though typically referred to simply as "cider" in North ...

soft drink A soft drink (see #Terminology, § Terminology for other names) is a class of non-alcoholic drink, usually (but not necessarily) Carbonated water, carbonated, and typically including added Sweetness, sweetener. Flavors used to be Natural flav ...

s, and

juice Juice is a drink made from the extraction or Cold-pressed juice, pressing of the natural liquid contained in fruit and vegetables. It can also refer to liquids that are flavored with concentrate or other biological food sources, such as meat ...

naturally contain trace amounts or no alcohol. Some fresh

orange juice Orange juice is a liquid extract of the orange (fruit), orange tree fruit, produced by squeezing or reaming oranges. It comes in several different varieties, including blood orange, navel oranges, valencia orange, clementine, and tangerine. As ...

s are above the UK 'alcohol free' limit of 0.05% ABV, as are some yogurts and

rye bread Rye bread is a type of bread made with various proportions of flour from rye grain. It can be light or dark in color, depending on the type of flour used and the addition of coloring agents, and is typically denser than bread made from wheat f ...

. Ethanol

distillation Distillation, also classical distillation, is the process of separating the component substances of a liquid mixture of two or more chemically discrete substances; the separation process is realized by way of the selective boiling of the mixt ...

is used to separate alcoholic drinks into what are advertised as non-alcoholic drinks and

spirits Spirit(s) commonly refers to: * Liquor, a distilled alcoholic drink * Spirit (animating force), the non-corporeal essence of living things * Spirit (supernatural entity), an incorporeal or immaterial being Spirit(s) may also refer to: Liquids ...

. Distilled wine produces low alcohol wine and

brandy Brandy is a liquor produced by distilling wine. Brandy generally contains 35–60% alcohol by volume (70–120 US proof) and is typically consumed as an after-dinner digestif. Some brandies are aged in wooden casks. Others are coloured ...

(from brandywine, derived from Dutch ''brandewijn'', "burning wine"). Distilled beer may be used to produce

low-alcohol beer Low-alcohol beer is beer with little or no alcohol by volume that aims to reproduce the taste of beer while eliminating or reducing the inebriating effect, carbohydrates, and calories of regular alcoholic brews. Low-alcohol beers can come in diff ...

and

whisky Whisky or whiskey is a type of liquor made from Fermentation in food processing, fermented grain mashing, mash. Various grains (which may be Malting, malted) are used for different varieties, including barley, Maize, corn, rye, and wheat. Whisky ...

. However, alcoholic drinks cannot be further purified to 0.00% alcohol by volume by distillation, although several brands market their non-alcoholic drinks with '0%' on the packaging. Most drinks labeled "non-alcoholic" contain 0.5% ABV, as it is more profitable than distilling it to 0.05% ABV often found in products sold by companies specializing in non-alcoholic drinks.

Ethical issues

Alcohol is legal in most countries of the world where a

drinking culture Drinking culture is the set of traditions, rituals, and social behaviors associated with the consumption of alcoholic beverages. Although alcoholic beverages and social attitudes toward Drinking#Alcoholic beverages, drinking vary around the worl ...

exists. In countries where alcohol is illegal, similar non-alcoholic drinks are permitted. The definition of "alcohol-free" may vary from country to country. The term "non-alcoholic" (e.g., alcohol-free beer) is often used to describe a drink that contains 0.0%

ABV Alcohol by volume (abbreviated as alc/vol or ABV) is a common measure of the amount of alcohol contained in a given alcoholic beverage. It is defined as the volume the ethanol in the liquid would take if separated from the rest of the solution, ...

. However, most drinks advertised as "non-alcoholic" or "alcohol free" sold by countries with

zero tolerance A zero-tolerance policy is one which imposes a punishment for every infraction of a stated rule.zero tolerance, n.' (under ''zero, n.''). The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd Ed. 1989. Retrieved 10 November 2009. Italy, Japan, Singapore China, I ...

with state-run liquor monopoly, actually contain alcohol. In the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

, the labels of drinks containing only more than 1.2% ABV must state the actual alcoholic strength (i.e., show the word "alcohol" or the abbreviation "alc." followed by the symbol "% vol."). Alcohol is a

psychoactive drug A psychoactive drug, psychopharmaceutical, mind-altering drug, consciousness-altering drug, psychoactive substance, or psychotropic substance is a chemical substance that alters psychological functioning by modulating central nervous system acti ...

and some critics say that the label "non-alcoholic" is misleading, due to the presence of small amounts of alcohol in most drinks labelled as such, and a threat to recovering

alcoholics Alcoholism is the continued drinking of alcohol despite it causing problems. Some definitions require evidence of dependence and withdrawal. Problematic use of alcohol has been mentioned in the earliest historical records. The World Hea ...

Non-alcoholic mixed drinks

Non-alcoholic

cocktails A cocktail is a mixed drink, usually alcoholic. Most commonly, a cocktail is a combination of one or more spirits mixed with other ingredients, such as juices, flavored syrups, tonic water, shrubs, and bitters. Cocktails vary widely acro ...

often resemble alcoholic cocktails without any liquor. They can be a blend of fresh fruit juices, syrups, cream, herbs and spices, or can use non-alcoholic spirits. These drinks are designed specifically for those who are sober, and are particularly favored over cocktails by

teetotalers Teetotalism is the practice of voluntarily abstaining from the consumption of alcohol, specifically in alcoholic drinks. A person who practices (and possibly advocates) teetotalism is called a teetotaler (US) or teetotaller (UK), or said to be ...

, underage persons, drivers, pregnant women, and others who choose drinks that are alcohol-free.

Fruestas

The

Woman's Christian Temperance Union The Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) is an international temperance organization. It was among the first organizations of women devoted to social reform with a program that "linked the religious and the secular through concerted and far ...

publishes several recipes for fruestas, which are nonalcoholic fruit drinks for large functions, such as

prom A promenade dance or prom is a formal dance party for graduating high school students at the end of the school year. Students participating in the prom will typically vote for a ''prom king'' and ''prom queen''. Other students may be honored ...

s and weddings. As a locution, fruesta drinks are etymologically derived from "fruit" and "fiesta", being a

portmanteau In linguistics, a blend—also known as a blend word, lexical blend, or portmanteau—is a word formed by combining the meanings, and parts of the sounds, of two or more words together.

of the two words.

Legal definitions

EU

In the

, the labels of drinks containing more than 1.2% ABV must state the actual alcoholic strength (i.e., show the word "alcohol" or the abbreviation "alc." followed by the symbol "% vol.").

Denmark

The government of Denmark have decided to change the ''alcohol free'' legal definition from 0.1% alcohol by volume to 0.5%. This is due to the different taste of 0.5% than of 0.1%.

Finland

Non-alcoholic beverage means a beverage which contains a maximum of 1.2 percentage by volume ethyl alcohol.

Italy

Non-alcoholic beer, termed as "birra analcolica", is regulated as equal to or less than 1.2% ABV.

Sweden

Systembolaget (, "the System Company"), colloquially known as ("the system") or ("the company"), is a government-owned chain of liquor stores in Sweden. It is the only retail store allowed to sell alcoholic beverages that contain more than 3.5% alcohol by ...

defines ''alcohol-free'' as a drink that contains no more than 0.5% alcohol by volume.

United Kingdom

Licensing laws only place restrictions on the sale or consumption of drinks with an alcohol content of over 0.5%.

Japan

In Japanese Liquor Tax Law, are defined as equal to or more than 1% ABV, so that drinks that are less than 1% ABV are not treated as alcoholic drink. However, , organization for making self‐imposed regulation, defines as drinks that 0.00% ABV.

Norway

An ''alcohol free'' drink is defined as under 0.7% alcohol by volume.

Russia

Non-alcoholic drinks are defined as containing less than 0.5% abv in general, or less than 1.2% abv if based on a fermentation product, including drinks like

kefir Kefir ( ; alternative spellings: kephir or kefier; ; ; ) is a Fermented milk products, fermented milk drink similar to a thin yogurt or ayran that is made from kefir grains, a specific type of mesophilic SCOBY, symbiotic culture. It is prep ...

kvass Kvass is a fermented, cereal-based, low-alcoholic beverage of cloudy appearance and sweet-sour taste. Kvass originates from northeastern Europe, where grain production was considered insufficient for beer to become a daily drink. The first wr ...

and

medovukha Medovukha ( ; , ; , , ) is a Slavic honey-based alcoholic beverage. It is very similar to mead; but medovukha is produced much faster (approx. less than 1 month of fermentation). The words mead and medovukha are closely related and go back to ...

. This also includes

s by definition.

United States

malt drink A malt drink is a fermented drink in which the primary ingredient is the grain or seed of the barley plant, which has been allowed to sprout slightly in a traditional way called "malting" before it is processed. By far the most predominant ma ...

that contains less than 0.5%

alcohol by volume Alcohol by volume (abbreviated as alc/vol or ABV) is a common measure of the amount of Alcohol (drug), alcohol contained in a given alcoholic beverage. It is defined as the volume the ethanol in the liquid would take if separated from the rest ...

does not have to be labeled.