[meew0]

I feel like you could do even better than chilies/ginger for replicating the burn. The burn from chilies feels completely different than the burn from alcohol, because ethanol is much more volatile than capsaicin. Plausibly, using a more volatile TRPV1 agonist such as allyl isothiocyanate (from horseradish/mustard) would produce an even closer effect.

[fellowniusmonk]

Back in 2022ish a non-alcoholic bottle shop opened up across from my house so I went in with a group of 7 friends and we bought one of each bottle they carried at the time, their Amethyst Lemon Cucumber Serrano bottle was the only one that we all really loved and felt and tasted like a real spirit.

They've expanded their selection since then but I haven't tried another round since I am not dry.

I still walk over and get that bottle for parties though to accommodate my dry friends, it's amazing.

[amarcheschi]

To me, alcohol burns a lot at first, in a similar way to wasabi, then it settles down to something more akin to capsaicin/ginger burn in the throat