In the latest of our guest columns from World Class GB Top 10 bartenders, Laurie Howells asks bartenders to use a little more of their creative energy on non-alc options.

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I have spent years watching our industry become increasingly obsessed with detail. We question ingredients, technique, texture, temperature, presentation and provenance. We want to surprise people. We want to create something they haven’t experienced before.

So why, when someone asks for an alcohol-free drink, does that ambition so often disappear?

At some of the bars I visited, 10-12 signature cocktails would fill the menu, each with their own story, ingredients and point of view, while the alcohol-free guest was given a single option: an N/A spirit topped with ginger ale. The serve itself isn't the issue; the disparity is. Twelve opportunities for creativity on one side of the menu, one afterthought on the other.

In a venue that has put so much thought into giving its guests choice and discovery, why should choosing not to drink reduce that experience to a single, generic option?

That is the uncomfortable part. We have become incredibly good at creating drinks for people who drink alcohol. We develop, experiment, ferment, clarify, distil and obsess over flavour. But when alcohol is removed, so is the ambition.

The no and low alcohol category is no longer niche. Guests are moderating, taking breaks from alcohol or choosing not to drink altogether. Yet many bars still treat the category as something that simply needs to exist rather than something worth investing in. Technically, the guest has been catered for. But hospitality isn't about technically catering for someone. It is about making them feel considered.

If we want alcohol-free drinks to stand alongside cocktails, we need to think about what alcohol contributes beyond ABV- namely: body, texture, aroma, structure and length.

That doesn't mean reaching for an imitation spirit and hoping for the best. Tea can provide tannin and structure. Verjus, shrubs and acid-adjusted juices can bring brightness. Fermentation can introduce acidity and complexity. Amazake, oat or coconut can provide body. Saline can sharpen flavour. Bitterness can come from botanicals, roasted ingredients or carefully chosen bitters.

Carbonation can create lift, while clarification can completely change the texture and presentation of a drink. A simple highball could combine a tannic tea, a fruit or botanical cordial, verjus, a touch of saline and carbonation.

Suddenly there is structure, acidity, texture and length without a traditional spirit. Amazake can be used not simply as a sweetener but as a source of body and subtle fermented complexity. Kombucha can provide acidity and effervescence. Roasted ingredients can introduce bitterness and depth. Even something as simple as changing the way an ingredient is extracted can completely alter the finished drink.

The point isn't to make alcohol-free drinks more complicated for the sake of it. It is to give them due thought and ask ourselves what is it the guest expects from this experience? How can we exceed their expectations?

The same can be said for low ABV serves too. A guest who wants to moderate shouldn't have to choose between a full-strength cocktail and zero-strength. Vermouth, sherry, sake, beer, aperitifs and fortified wines can create a middle ground that still feels like a “proper’ bar experience.

Perhaps the bigger shift is to stop designing these drinks from a position of replacing something that is absent. Rather than starting with a cocktail and asking what can be removed, start with flavour and ask what can be built? What does the drink need to be refreshing, complex, bitter, savoury, aromatic or long? What ingredients can give it the structure that alcohol would otherwise provide?

A good non-alcoholic programme shouldn't feel like a list of substitutions. It should have its own identity. Whether that’s a mirror menu or a dedicated list to alcohol free. It should have balance, variety and progression. There should be drinks that are light and refreshing, others that are bitter or savoury, something sparkling, something complex and something that feels indulgent. Most importantly, it should be developed with the same curiosity and care as the alcoholic menu.

The best bars have spent decades proving that hospitality can be creative, theatrical, personal and extraordinary. So where do we go from here? We start by treating the non-alcoholic offering with the same curiosity and ambition as everything else on the menu. We give it thought, variety and a reason to exist beyond simply accommodating the guest who doesn't drink. Maybe the goal isn't to make non-alcoholic drinks better versions of what we already make, but to give them the freedom to become something in their own right.