I enjoy drinking alcohol, but it's not for everyone or every occasion, obviously. Of course there are many options out there for non-drinkers, from sodas, juices, coffees and teas to the horribly named mocktails (who are you mocking, and why?).
But I really enjoyed this line of non-alcoholic "spirits" that I saw at the International Spirits, Wine and Beer pavilion at the National Restaurant Show. Actually, I really liked the non-alcoholic vodka, which was the only one I tried (life is short, how many non-alcoholic beverages am I supposed to try?). It's made with just water, herbs and spices, including a fair amount of chile, which I thought quite brilliantly simulated the burn of alcohol.
It kind of reminded me of "Triquila," a beverage that the beverage consulting company The Tippling Bros. developed a few years back. It was a spiced sake they used to make a version of Margarita at Mercadito Cantina in New York City, which only had a beer and wine license, so they couldn't use tequila. If memory serves, they, too, used chiles to simulate the back-of-the-throat sensation of a tequila shot.
Anyway, I thought it was pretty cool.