Botivo: A Glorious Non-Alcoholic Drink recipe

We have an awful lot of booze in our house that we don’t drink. Instead, it gets eaten via cakes, risottos, pastas and chillis. Over the years, our alcohol intake has steadily dwindled, and is currently zero, so I’ve been keeping an eye out for interesting non-alcoholic alternatives. 

A birthday dinner at vanderlyle* in Cambridge unearthed Botivo. Listed under Soft Drinks, I asked about it, but the explanation got lost in the din. All I heard was: “apple cider vinegar” and “not sweet”.

Good lord, I’m obsessed. To give you a starting point, I really like kombucha. I’m going to say the word “vinegary”, which sounds harsh and puckering. Like bottles of Sarsons on chip shop counters. Botivo does taste of vinegar but not the malted kind. It’s made with aged, unpasteurised, apple cider vinegar. The Botivo website describes it as an:

...intensely refreshing aperitivo (non-alcoholic) with a bittersweet backbone, herbal notes and a tang of citrus. 

Here's the full list of ingredients:

• Apple cider vinegar
• Citrus
• Wormwood and gentian
• Rosemary and thyme
• Honey

It’s the best drink I’ve tasted in ages. We have it with soda and slices of lemon and lime but the website has plenty more recipes if you’re feeling adventurous. 

Our local Majestic Wine store stocks it. One assistant was enthusiastic. Another said:

“Oh yeah, that one; interesting drink.”

It’s probably a bit Marmite** but sometimes the best things are. 

One bottle costs £28 and contains 20 servings. I would never shell out that much for a drink I hadn’t tried. If you’re the same, I hope you spot it on a menu somewhere and get to experience it for yourself.

* vanderlyle was amazing; go if you can.
** As in “love it or hate it”. Botivo doesn’t taste like Marmite.