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What to Drink Instead of Dubonnet
A civilised guide for when the shelves let you down.
Why People Fell Back in Love with Dubonnet
Dubonnet has a very particular charm. It is bittersweet without being sharp, warming without being heavy, elegant without being fussy. It behaves beautifully with gin and turns a simple drink into something faintly ceremonial. That balance is not easy to replicate.
Once it disappeared from shelves, people went looking for anything that could fill the gap. Some bottles come close. Others miss by a polite mile.
The Closest Alternatives
Here are the bottles most often recommended when Dubonnet is unavailable. They each share a little of its character, but none offer the full picture.
Lillet Rouge
Lighter and fruitier. A very civilised drink on its own and a good companion for gin, though it lacks the structured bitterness that makes Dubonnet so satisfying.
Red Quinquina
Probably the nearest in spirit. A quinine-led aperitif with a similar profile, though often drier and more complex. Interesting, but not the classic.
These all work in a pinch. None deliver the specific bittersweet clarity people expect when they think of Dubonnet and gin.
Which is why many have stopped hunting through substitutes and turned to something that brings the whole idea back into the present day.
The Answer When Dubonnet Is Unavailable
G&D was created for moments like this.
It uses real Dubonnet, paired with a clean London Dry gin and balanced exactly as the traditional serve intended. The flavour, the ritual and the ease are all there, without hunting through substitutes or improvising at the cabinet.
This is the drink people moved to when Dubonnet stopped being easy to find.
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A British aperitif, revived.
There are moments in life that call for a proper aperitif. Something grown-up, quietly confident and able to set the tone for an evening. For many people, that drink is Dubonnet. Or at least, it used to be, until Britain rediscovered the late Queen’s fondness for it and promptly bought every bottle the nation had left.
Which raises the question: what do you pour when Dubonnet is nowhere to be found?
The good news is that there are options. The better news is that one of them feels like it was designed for exactly this moment.
