Review: Little Saints Non-Alcoholic Spirits and Canned Cocktails

Little Saints is a non-alcoholic spirit and RTD producer with a particular focus on functional mushrooms as a key ingredient. Both lion’s mane and reishi mushrooms appear in the products, which use monkfruit extract for sweetener, keeping calore counts extremely low. The two spirits are available in 750ml bottles ($50) or smaller flasks ($40 for four 100ml bottles, two of each). Four RTDs are available and come in single-serve 8 oz cans ($60 per 12-pack). We got both of the spirits and two of the canned RTDs to check out. Thoughts follow.

Little Saints St. Ember – A spicy-smoky creation meant to emulate mezcal, infused with palo santo, ginger, cardamom, and lion’s mane mushroom. It’s an effective spirit, though it comes across somewhere between gin and mezcal, with lots of aromatic herbs and a gentle smokiness that might better describe a barrel-aged gin. Tart as it develops on the palate, the spirit tempers any vinegary tendencies with ample spice, which veers toward Christmassy on the finish thanks to an especially heavy helping of ginger. Interesting mixer possibilities. B+

Little Saints St. Juniper – As the name implies, this is a gin analogue, made with juniper, cucumber, birch, yuzu, and lion’s mane, plus damiana. It’s not overly piney, however — which is really odd — evoking a strong note of pear, then black pepper and loads of mushroom. The palate feels thin and rather bitter, finishing on more pepper and coming across as a little acrid and underdeveloped. I just wasn’t able to make this work as a cocktail ingredient. C

Little Saints Negroni Spritz – A pinkish concoction made with reishi mushrooms, this carries the brisk bitterness expected from a Campari-heavy drink, though a terpene-adjacent quality starts to dominate in relatively short order. Those mushrooms really kick in from there, giving the late game character an earthy, peppery quality. It doesn’t exactly connote a real Negroni — though a hint of berry fruit may be vaguely mistaken for sweet vermouth — but it’s at least in a similar orbit. B

Little Saints Mojito – Reishi mushrooms and damiana give this gingery-minty mojito-ish concoction an even more intense earthiness than the Negroni Spritz, though the brisk herbaceousness provides a countering pop, at least to a degree. The damiana is particularly powerful here, imbuing the drink with an aggressive florality, one which overpowers the mint in the equation. The monkfruit sweetener also becomes a bit much in the end, leaving an aftertaste that feels artificial and industrial. C

The post Review: Little Saints Non-Alcoholic Spirits and Canned Cocktails appeared first on Drinkhacker: The Insider’s Guide to Good Drinking.