If you finished a bottle of Ghia and want the next one, start with Figlia, De Soi and Everleaf. Figlia is the closest botanical match, De Soi arrives cold in a can, and Everleaf is the one to buy if you read labels. St. Agrestis and Casamara Club cover the negroni and the low-sugar ends.
Ghia is a 500ml bottle of gentian root, yuzu, elderflower and lemon balm, around $38, with no added sugar and no adaptogens. You pour one part into three parts of something fizzy. That is a fairly specific drink, so "something like Ghia" depends on which part of it you actually liked.
Some people liked the bitterness. Some liked that it had no functional claims attached. Some just liked having a real bottle on the counter instead of another sparkling water. The twelve brands below are sorted so you can find the one that matches your reason, and every entry says whether it pours from a bottle you mix or opens ready to drink.
How we picked these brands
- It has to be an aperitif. Bittersweet, sippable long with soda. Non-alcoholic whiskey and tequila substitutes do a different job, so they are not here.
- Real botanicals, named on the label. Gentian, chinotto, rhubarb root, citrus peel, listed by name rather than hidden inside "natural flavours".
- Sweetener honesty. The most common complaint in this category is a sweet or synthetic aftertaste, so we say where a brand leans sweet and where it stays dry.
- Format stated up front. A concentrate you mix and a can you open are not the same purchase, and most roundups blur the two.
- You can buy it direct. Every brand here sells from its own store, which is also how we picked the roster for our wider guide to DTC food and drink brands.
At a glance
| Brand | Best for | Format | Price | Known for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Figlia | The closest swap | Bottle, mix | Premium | Fiore and Sole aperitivos, still or frizzante |
| De Soi | Grab and go | Can | Mid | Sparkling aperitifs built on adaptogens |
| Everleaf | Label readers | Bottle, mix | Mid | B Corp, three botanical expressions |
| St. Agrestis | Negroni drinkers | Bottle, ready | Mid | Phony Negroni, 30 botanicals |
| Casamara Club | Low sugar, low cost | Bottle, ready | Budget | Amaro-style sodas, 15 calories |
| Wilfred's | Spritz makers | Bottle, mix | Mid | Bitter orange, rhubarb, rosemary, clove |
| Mother Root | Anyone burned by sweetness | Bottle, mix | Mid | Four-ingredient ginger switchel |
| Melati | Dark and rich | Bottle, mix | Premium | 21 botanicals, cold-extracted in Singapore |
| Pentire | Fresh and green | Bottle or can | Mid | Distilled Cornish coastal botanicals |
| Three Spirit | The functional curious | Bottle, mix | Premium | Livener, Social and Nightcap elixirs |
| PARCH | Agave over bitter | Can | Mid | Desert botanicals and agave |
| Curious Elixirs | Negroni, no mixing | Bottle, ready | Premium | Numbered cocktails, No. 1 Sbagliato riff |
1. Figlia
Figlia makes two aperitivos and nothing else. Fiore runs on rose, bitter orange and clove, Sole on Meyer lemon, peach and basil, and both come still or frizzante. The brand says it started from wanting more honest conversations about drinking, which shows up in how plainly the labels read.
Best for the person who liked Ghia's botanical bitterness and wants the closest thing to it. At $72 a bottle, or $80 for the two-bottle Duo, it is a step up in price, so buy the Duo if you are unsure which profile suits you.
2. De Soi
De Soi sells sparkling aperitifs in cans, co-founded by Katy Perry and distiller Morgan McLachlan. Golden Hour and Purple Lune are the two you will see most. Tasting Table put De Soi first in its blind ranking of eight non-alcoholic aperitifs, one place above Ghia.
Best for anyone who wants a cold drink out of the fridge with no build involved. Worth knowing: the whole range is built on adaptogens, which is the one thing Ghia deliberately leaves out. If that is a feature rather than a drawback for you, the same logic runs through our Recess alternatives picks.
3. Everleaf
Everleaf was founded by a conservation biologist turned mixologist, and it shows in the sourcing. Three expressions: Forest, which is earthy with wood, vanilla and spice, plus Mountain and Marine. The company is a certified B Corp, a 1% for the Planet member, and tracks its footprint through Climate Partner.
Best for the label reader. The house serve is 50ml over ice with 150ml of light tonic, which makes a bottle go further than Ghia's one-to-three ratio.
4. St. Agrestis
St. Agrestis is a Greenpoint distillery, and its Phony Negroni is the strongest ready-to-drink argument on this list. Each 200ml bottle is made with 30 raw non-GMO botanicals including Tuscan juniper, southern Italian citrus peel and gentian root, so the bitterness lands close to Ghia's.
It took Best in Class at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition in 2022, 2023 and 2024, plus Platinum in 2024, and holds 4.9 out of 5 across more than 1,600 reviews on its own site. Best for the negroni drinker who does not want to mix anything.
5. Casamara Club
Casamara Club makes amaro-inspired botanical sodas in Detroit. ALTA is the classic aperitivo, built on Calabrian chinotto with juniper and orris root. COMO is alpine, ONDA is coastal Sicilian, and SERA is a grapefruit-forward riviera spritz.
They are extra-dry at 15 calories and 4g of sugar a bottle, and they are already carbonated, so there is nothing to add. Best for the value shopper, since buying by the case puts the cost per serve well under everything else here. If you like keeping something cold and interesting in the fridge all day, our Liquid Death alternatives roundup covers the same habit from the water side.
6. Wilfred's
Wilfred's is the most-recommended Ghia alternative across the roundups we read, and it earns it. Each batch is infused with bitter orange, rhubarb, rosemary and clove. It launched in the UK in 2020 and reached the US the following year.
Best for the spritz maker who found Ghia's gentian edge a little sharp. It reads bittersweet rather than properly bitter, and it holds together well once you dilute it. Around $34 for a 500ml bottle at US retail, so it also lands a few dollars under Ghia.
7. Mother Root
Mother Root takes the opposite approach to almost everyone else. Four ingredients: apple cider vinegar, ginger, a hint of chilli and blossom honey. No additives, no preservatives, and a small pour over ice topped with soda water.
Best for anyone who has been burned by sweet non-alcoholic drinks and wants something with an actual bite. Founded by Bethan, it sells for £27.95 a bottle. One thing to check before you buy: the honey means it is not vegan, unlike Ghia.
8. Melati
Melati is blended in Singapore from 21 herbs, fruits and spices, among them goji berries, hibiscus, raw cacao, kampot pepper and ginger. Each botanical is cold-extracted for up to six weeks before hand-blending, and founder Lorin Winata built the recipe around Southeast Asian tonic traditions.
Best for the drinker who wants dark and rich rather than Ghia's bright citrus. It sits closer to a red wine or an amaro than to a spritz, so try it neat over ice before you decide how to mix it.
9. Pentire
Pentire distils coastal botanicals from the Cornish shoreline, and the range covers both bottles and ready-to-drink cans. Adrift is the herbaceous original, Coastal Spritz is the aperitif-style one, Seaward is the bright citrus expression.
Best for the drinker who wants fresh and green instead of bitter. Worth knowing where it splits opinion: Tasting Table liked the Coastal Spritz and the Paloma but found the Margarita heavy on sage, so start with the spritz.
10. Three Spirit
Three Spirit calls its bottles social elixirs and names each one for how it is meant to make you feel. Livener is the pick-me-up, Social is the mood one, Nightcap is the wind-down. All three lean on adaptogens and nootropics.
Best for the drinker who wants a stated effect alongside the flavour. If that idea leaves you cold, skip it, because the functional angle is the whole point of the range rather than a side note.
11. PARCH
PARCH cans agave-based cocktails built on desert botanicals and adaptogens. The Sedona Spritz, Prickly Paloma and Spiced Piñarita make up the core three, and the cans run light on calories.
Best for the person who wants the convenience of De Soi but prefers agave and citrus to bitter herbs. It is the least Ghia-like drink here in flavour, and the most likely to work on a hot afternoon.
12. Curious Elixirs
Curious Elixirs numbers its drinks instead of naming them. No. 1 is a Negroni Sbagliato riff made with organic pomegranate and orange juice plus lemon peel, bitter orange and gentian root extracts, with 400mg of rhodiola stirred in. Bottles are 340ml, about 2.3 servings each.
Best for the negroni drinker who wants a bottle to pour rather than a build. The New York Times has named it among its best non-alcoholic drinks, and the No. 1 page carries 729 reviews.
How to choose a Ghia alternative
If you liked the bitterness, go to Figlia, St. Agrestis or Curious Elixirs. All three use gentian, which is the ingredient doing most of the work in Ghia.
If you liked it but wanted it softer, Wilfred's and Everleaf both land bittersweet rather than bracing.
If you never want to mix a drink again, buy De Soi, PARCH, Casamara Club or the Phony Negroni. They arrive finished.
If the sweetness in other brands put you off, Mother Root and Casamara Club are the two driest options here, at four ingredients and 4g of sugar a bottle respectively.
If you specifically do not want adaptogens, avoid De Soi, Three Spirit and PARCH, and stay with Figlia, Everleaf, Wilfred's, Casamara Club, Mother Root, Melati or Pentire.
If the price was the problem, Casamara Club by the case is the cheapest per serve, and Wilfred's undercuts Ghia by a few dollars a bottle.
If you want something to hand people at a party, cans and small bottles travel better than a concentrate. That is also why so many hosts keep a non-alcoholic beer around, and our Athletic Brewing alternatives list covers that shelf.
Frequently asked questions
What tastes closest to Ghia?
Figlia Fiore is the closest botanical match, since it works the same bitter-orange-and-floral territory. If you want the gentian bite specifically, St. Agrestis Phony Negroni and Curious Elixirs No. 1 both use gentian root and land in a similar place.
Is there a cheaper alternative to Ghia?
Yes. Casamara Club is the cheapest per serving on this list because it is sold by the case and comes ready to drink, so a bottle is one drink rather than a concentrate you ration. Wilfred's is the cheapest bottled concentrate, at roughly $34 for 500ml.
What is the best non-alcoholic Aperol or Campari substitute?
For a spritz, Wilfred's and Everleaf Forest both do the bittersweet orange job. For a negroni, the Phony Negroni from St. Agrestis and Curious Elixirs No. 1 are the two purpose-built options.
Do non-alcoholic aperitifs contain sugar?
Most contain some, usually from fruit juice or cane sugar. Ghia has about 3g a serving from fruit with none added. Casamara Club runs 4g a bottle. Mother Root uses blossom honey. Watch instead for high-intensity sweeteners, which are what produce the aftertaste people complain about.
What is the difference between a non-alcoholic aperitif and a non-alcoholic spirit?
An aperitif is meant to be drunk long and slow, usually one part to three parts soda, and it carries its own bitterness. A non-alcoholic spirit is a base ingredient built to sit inside a cocktail, and it often tastes thin on its own. If you liked Ghia, you want an aperitif.
Which of these come ready to drink in a can or bottle?
De Soi and PARCH come in cans. Casamara Club, St. Agrestis and Curious Elixirs come in ready-to-drink bottles. Pentire sells both cans and bottles. The rest are concentrates you mix.
How long does an open bottle last?
Juice-based aperitifs behave more like a mixer than a spirit, so most brands ask you to refrigerate after opening and finish the bottle within a few weeks. Check the neck label, since the instructions vary by brand and the ready-to-drink formats sidestep the question entirely.