Lyre’s White Cane Spirit Review: Non Alcoholic Rum with Recipes

lyres white cane spirit bottle

This Lyre’s White Cane Spirit review dives into non-alcoholic light rum and its performance in mocktails. If you are looking to cut the alcohol out partially or completely, and you love rum drinks, you have come to the right place. White Cane Spirit has been taste tested in brand recommended mocktails and more rum cocktail substitutes, and there are plenty of tasty mocktails ahead, so enjoy!

Lyre’s claims to deliver “crafted homages to the intensity, balance and beauty of time-tested classics.” This is definitely true for their White Cane Spirit. It’s an excellent non-alcoholic rum!

Bottom line: White Cane Spirit tastes a lot like light rum. It has a smooth and sweet flavor with a slight bite, and makes some convincing and delicious mocktails. (check price)

Lyre’s White Cane Spirit will inspire you to mix up all your favorite non-alcoholic tropical mocktails.  

For a deeper dive into tasting this product and trying out mocktails, keep reading below.

Best enjoyed in: Lyre’s Piña Colada

How it’s made: The company creates their spirits by blending natural essences and extracts. The bottle design is creative and fun to explore.

Ingredients, Storage, and Nutrition

In order to thoughtfully review a product, it must be tested. Here’s the method taken for taste testing, used in each product review for a non-alcoholic spirit: 

What Does Lyre’s White Cane Spirit Taste Like…

  1. Neat
  2. On ice
  3. On ice with tonic or appropriate single mixer
  4. Brand recommended mocktails
  5. Get creative

#1 Neat

First off, it smells like rum, even with a tad of an alcohol scent (how do they do this?). It tastes a lot like rum: sweet, nutty, and has a little bit of a bite. Lyre’s lists the following flavors: oak, sugar, marzipan, orange and coconut, then a peppery finish.

The resemblance to light rum is impressive, and I would go ahead and call this an approved non alcoholic substitute for rum. 

#2 On ice

The ice really brightens up the flavors, but no drastic change. 

#3 On ice with tonic

Fill a highball glass with ice and add 2oz White Cane Spirit. Top with 5oz Fever Tree Refreshingly Light Tonic Water and garnish with a lime wedge. Optional squeeze of lime juice, depending on preference.

This is a refreshingly light non-alcoholic hot weather beverage. The tonic mixed with the non alcoholic rum substitute is a good blend of bitter and sweet. Everyone’s drinking gin and tonics, why not try something different?

#4 Brand Recommended Mocktails Featuring White Cane Spirit

Lyre’s has a pretty extensive recipe list, so I chose some popular rum cocktails to taste test. Below are the results. 

Lyre’s Mojito 

mojito mocktail test

Ingredients

  • 75ml (2.5oz) Lyre’s White Cane Spirit
  • 30ml (1oz) fresh lime juice
  • 15ml (0.5oz) white sugar syrup (1:1)
  • 8 – 10 mint leaves
  • 30 ml (1oz) soda water

Directions:
Add all ingredients into a highball glass.  Fill with fresh cubed ice, stir, add soda and garnish.

Verdict: This is a good, simple version of a mojito. It’s fresh, and White Cane Spirit is convincing as white rum. This is a good substitute. 

While you won’t go wrong with this, after investigating traditional mojito technique, and tasting different ratios, here’s a more refined recipe for a delicious Mojito mocktail.

Lyre’s Daiquiri

non alcoholic daiquiri test

Ingredients

  • 75ml (2.5oz) Lyre’s White Cane Spirit
  • 20ml (0.75oz) white sugar syrup (1:1)
  • 30ml (1oz) fresh lime juice
  • Pinch Salt (Optional)

Directions:
Shake with ice, fine strain into a coupe glass.

Verdict: A classy beverage. This is quite similar to a margarita, but with rum. It’s served up, so not your daytime beach chiller, but a classic mocktail nonetheless. Again, depending on your preference for sweet vs sour, you might consider playing with the ratios. 

Since White Cane Spirit is a tad viscous, how much you use could determine the texture of this non-alcoholic daiquiri, which should be crisp and fresh. Here’s a citrus-forward version, but feel free to try both and decide for yourself: Non-Alcoholic Classic Daiquiri. Either way you make it, White Cane Spirit makes an approved substitute for a classic daiquiri. 

Lyre’s Piña Colada

testing non alcoholic pina colada

Ingredients

  • 75ml (2.5oz) Lyre’s White Cane Spirit
  • 75ml (2.5oz) Fresh Young Coconut Water
  • 20ml (0.75oz) White Sugar Syrup (1:1)
  • 6 Fresh Inch Pineapple Chunks

Directions

Muddle/press pineapple chunks in a cocktail shaker. Add remaining ingredients and ice, shake hard. Strain into a highball glass, fill with fresh cubed ice, and garnish with a plump mint sprig and pineapple wedge. 

Verdict: A very tasty beverage, spot on. This atypical rocks version of a non-alcoholic piña colada tastes like it has rum in it and is extremely delicious. You will make two. Definitely an approved substitute. 

#5 Get Creative with Lyre’s White Cane Spirit

Can Lyre’s White Cane Spirit stand up in a blended beverage? Let’s try it in a non-alcoholic frozen piña colada. After some trial and error, and a lot of tasty pineapple, here’s the final recipe for the Non-Alcoholic Frozen Piña Colada.

It’s delicious and your friends will love it, whether they drink alcohol or not. White Cane Spirit again proved itself to be a great non alcoholic substitute for rum in drinks.

Frozen Non Alcoholic Piña Colada

non alcoholic rum in a pina colada

Ingredients

  • 6oz Lyre’s White Cane Spirit
  • 6oz Natiive Forest Coconut Milk “Simple”
  • 3 cups (~1lb) frozen pineapple chunks
  • 6 Fresh Inch Pineapple Chunks

Directions:

Add all ingredients to a blender and blend until smooth. Add water and blend as needed to improve the consistency for pouring. Pour into a highball glass and garnish with a pineapple chunk and mint sprig. Add a paper umbrella if you’re feeling spicy!

What Makes Lyre’s White Cane Spirit the Best Non Alcoholic Rum? 

Simply put, White Cane Spirit tastes like light rum, and that makes it the best non-alcoholic rum. It’s a contender for best non-alcoholic spirit as well, not only for making delicious mocktails, but drinks that taste like the real deal. . 

Keep reading for a deeper dive into how Lyre’s White Cane Spirit was evaluated…

Click here for the best available price for Lyre’s White Cane Spirit on Amazon.

Keep reading for a deeper dive into how Lyre’s White Cane Spirit was evaluated…

In order to really understand non-alcoholic spirits, I believe it’s a good idea to understand the spirits that inspired them. How they’re made, what gives them their flavor, and how they are most commonly consumed (are they better in cocktails or neat and which cocktails are best). With this information, your mocktail choices can be a little more informed.

HOW RUM IS PRODUCED

Rum is made from sugarcane. There are several factors that affect the flavor profile of the finished product and the type and origin of the sugarcane being used are among those variables. The sugarcane plant thrives when cut regularly, and this usually happens once per year.

Once harvested, it’s chopped up into smaller pieces so the juices can be pressed out of it. The juices are then used to make crystalline sugar and the byproduct of that process, molasses. Molasses is used to make the majority of rum today. 

Molasses is fermented with water and yeast. During fermentation, alcohol is created as the yeast eats the sugar. The fermentation process for rum is slightly different from other spirits, as the yeast needs to be increasingly introduced over time because of the way it interacts with the molasses.

Fermentation is what gives rum its flavor, and light rums generally have a shorter fermentation than dark rums, resulting in more subtle flavors. After fermentation, the product is distilled into rum. Some rums are also aged in oak barrels. These are often meant to be sipped neat, as light rum is more common in cocktails.

HOW NON ALCOHOLIC RUM IS MADE

The production process for non alcoholic rum can vary depending on brand. In the case of Lyre’s White Cane Spirit, it is nothing like the production of alcoholic rum. Since it’s not an alcoholic spirit, whether or not that matters is debatable. Lyre’s carefully blends natural essences and extracts to mimic the flavor of a light rum. After tasting it in mocktails, the flavor is surprisingly convincing. After tasting a spirit substitute this good, I would argue the production method is not as important as the flavor.

When it comes to ingredients, Lyre’s White Cane Spirit is a bit vague, using “Natural Flavouring” as an all-encompassing term for whatever gives their product its flavor. While I believe ingredient transparency is especially important these days, one fact remains: it tastes like rum (and honestly more like alcohol than most other non-alcoholic spirits I’ve tried). Because of this, it makes delicious non-alcoholic cocktail substitutes, aka mocktails. 

Lyre’s White Cane Spirit has 2g/100ml sugar and 3.4g/100ml carbohydrates, which roughly equates to 1.5g and 2.5g, respectively, per serving. That, combined with the amount of sugar in pineapple and other tropical fruit-laden mocktails isn’t exactly a low-sugar option – if that is your goal. However, you can avoid drinking alcohol while still enjoying your favorite rum cocktails with this product.

Lyre’s White Cane Spirit Nutrition Facts

Ingredients: Water, Glucose Syrup, Sugar, Natural Flavouring, Acid: Citric Acid, Barley Malt Extract, Stabiliser: Cellulose Guym (E466), Preservative: Potassium Sorbate.

VEGAN, DAIRY FREE, NUT FREE, EGG FREE

Nutrition: Serving size: 1.5oz

5 Calories; Fat 0g; Carbohydrates 1g; Sugar 1g; Sodium 5mg; Protein 0g*

*Nutrition information was found on the bottle and might be subject to change.
Storage: Refrigeration is not necessary. Consume within 12 weeks after opening. You’ll probably finish it sooner.

Angela T.
Hi, I’m Angela! Ever since alternative beverages made their debut, I’ve been on a mission to find the best. As someone who loves wine and making craft cocktails, I approach each new beverage with curiosity and a healthy dose of skepticism. I hope these honest reviews will help you learn which non-alcoholic drinks are best for you.