The Best Glühwein Alternatives

Glühwein has earned its place at the heart of the European winter, but it isn’t for everyone, every night. Some find it too sweet; others too heavy or too tannic; and plenty of us simply want variety across a long season. The good news is that the warm-drink tradition is far broader than one mug of spiced red wine.

Below are 20 alternatives, sorted by what you actually want to change. Each links through to a full recipe.

Start by naming what you don’t like

“Something other than glühwein” covers five very different complaints, and they lead to different drinks.

• It is too sweet. Most market glühwein is heavily sugared to cover cheap wine. The fix is usually not a different drink but a drier one: a mulled white, a spirit-forward warm serve, or a toddy.
• It is too heavy. Red wine plus sugar plus spice sits heavily after one glass. Cider, perry and warm gin serves are all lighter.
• It is the red wine itself. Tannin and warmth are an awkward pairing for a lot of people. Mull something else instead: white, rosé, port, beer, mead or perry.
• You want variety. Six weeks is a long season. The classics below are all completely different drinks that happen to be warm.
• Someone is not drinking. The alcohol-free section is the important one, and it deserves a real recipe rather than the same drink with the wine left out.

If you want the same ritual, only lighter

These behave exactly like glühwein: made in a pan, held warm, ladled into mugs. They just taste brighter.

Mulled Apple Cider

The obvious swap and the best one. Cloudy cider or pressed apple juice warmed with orange, cinnamon, clove, star anise and fresh ginger. Orchard-sweet rather than winey, works with or without alcohol, and pleases a wider table than glühwein does. Twenty-five minutes. Mulled Apple Cider

Spiced Pear Cider

Perry mulled with cinnamon, star anise, vanilla and ginger. Softer and more floral than apple, and unfamiliar enough that people ask what it is. Seventeen minutes, and the vanilla is what makes it. Spiced Pear Cider

Wassail

The traditional British version, with a baking apple roasted until soft, brown sugar, cinnamon, clove, ginger and nutmeg stirred through warm cider and ale. Older than glühwein and more interesting. Thirty minutes. Wassail

Warm Mead

Honey wine warmed gently with orange, cinnamon and clove. Mellow, golden and completely different in character: sweet without being sugary, and with none of the tannin. Eleven minutes. Warm Mead

If it is the red wine you object to

Everything here is mulled in the same way. Only the base changes.

Mulled White Wine

Dry white wine with honey, lemon peel, fresh ginger, cardamom and a split vanilla pod. Much lighter than the red version and noticeably less sweet, which is usually the real complaint. Twenty minutes. Mulled White Wine

Mulled Rosé Wine

Paler and more delicate again, with orange, vanilla, cardamom and star anise. A little unexpected on a winter table, which is part of the appeal. Mulled Rosé Wine

Mulled Port

Ruby port with orange juice, cinnamon, clove and star anise, served in a small glass. Richer and stronger than glühwein rather than lighter, so it suits after dinner rather than all evening. Mulled Port

Glühbier

Mulled beer, which sounds unlikely and is a genuine German tradition. Dark beer or bock warmed with honey, cinnamon, clove and orange into something malty and rounded. Fifteen minutes and the best conversation-starter here. Glühbier

Smoking Bishop

The Dickens punch: ruby port and red wine with clove-studded oranges roasted and left to steep overnight. It is still wine-based, but the roasted orange changes the character entirely and there is far less sugar. Plan a day ahead. Smoking Bishop

If you want something lighter and drier

The biggest change in winter drinking has been the rise of spirit-forward warm serves. They are drier, more aromatic and quicker to pour than anything made in a pan.

Hot Apple Gin

A ready-to-serve warm gin-and-apple drink, poured into a stemmed glass with an apple slice and a pinch of cinnamon. Five minutes, no pan, no half-bottle of wine committed. The closest thing to a direct modern replacement for a mug of glühwein. Hot Apple Gin

Warm Gin and Honey

Gin, honey, fresh lemon and hot water with a cinnamon stick. Built in the glass in five minutes, and about as far from heavy as a warm drink gets. Our gin winter cocktails guide covers the wider family. Warm Gin and Honey

Mezcal Warmer

Smoky mezcal with warm orange juice, agave, lime and a whisper of chilli. Short, spirit-forward and nothing at all like mulled wine, which is exactly why it belongs here. Mezcal Warmer

Hot Spiced Sake

Sake warmed with ginger, star anise and yuzu, sweetened with a little honey. Served at around 55°C, cooler than everything else, and the cleanest drink on this page. A good palate change midway through an evening. Hot Spiced Sake

Warm Aperol Spritz

Aperol with warm orange and apple juice, topped with prosecco. Bitter and orange-led where glühwein is sweet and spiced. It divides opinion, which is a reasonable thing for an alternative to do. Warm Aperol Spritz

If you would rather have comfort than a substitute

Sometimes the best alternative is another classic entirely, and not a version of the thing you were avoiding.

Hot Toddy

Whisky, honey, lemon and hot water. Simpler and more soothing than any mulled drink, made one glass at a time in eight minutes. Hot Toddy

Hot Buttered Rum

Dark rum and hot water enriched with a spiced butter batter that melts into something silky. Richer and more indulgent than glühwein, and the batter keeps in the fridge for about ten drinks. Hot Buttered Rum

Spiked Hot Chocolate

Real dark chocolate melted into milk and cream with brown sugar and a pinch of salt, spiked with rum or bourbon. Pure cold-weather comfort and the drink most likely to win over someone who dislikes warm alcohol entirely. Spiked Hot Chocolate

Lumumba

Rich cocoa laced with brandy under softly whipped cream. A Christmas market staple in its own right, and lighter than a full chocolate-based drink. Lumumba

The alcohol-free alternatives

Worth doing properly. An alcohol-free warm drink should be built as its own recipe, not as glühwein with the wine removed, which just tastes like hot juice.

Alcohol-Free Mulled Wine

Red grape juice and strong hibiscus tea with orange, cinnamon, clove and star anise. The hibiscus supplies the tartness and tannin that grape juice lacks, which is the whole trick. Deep red and genuinely convincing. Alcohol-Free Mulled Wine

Alcohol-Free Glögg

Grape and blackcurrant juice with cardamom, cinnamon and clove, served Scandinavian-style with raisins and almonds in the glass. The raisins make it feel like an occasion rather than a consolation. Alcohol-Free Glögg

Spiced Hibiscus Punch

Dried hibiscus flowers steeped with cinnamon, fresh ginger and orange, rounded out with honey. Tart, ruby-red and the least sweet drink on this page in any category. Spiced Hibiscus Punch

Warm Spiced Apple Juice

Cloudy apple juice steeped with cinnamon, clove and star anise, finished with orange and honey. Fifteen minutes, works for every age at the table, and gives you the full sensory ritual: the steam, the clove, the orange. Warm Spiced Apple Juice

Hot Apple Gin 0.0

The 0.0% twin of the warm gin serve, built to the same apple-and-spice balance. Useful when you want the alcohol-free option to look and feel identical to what everyone else is drinking. Hot Apple Gin 0.0

Which one should you actually pour?

For a party or a market stall, mulled apple cider. It scales exactly like glühwein, holds for hours, costs less per litre and suits more people.

For two of you on a cold evening, a warm gin and honey or a hot toddy, both under ten minutes with no pan.

If the objection is specifically the red wine, mulled white wine keeps everything else the same and solves it in one substitution.

And if you want the ritual without the alcohol, alcohol-free mulled wine is the one that actually tastes like a drink rather than a compromise.

For the technique behind all of these, see the best warm winter cocktails guide, and for serving a crowd, batch serving warm cocktails.