Ranch Water Is Mostly a Sparkling-Water Purchase

Ritual's non-alcoholic Ranch Water starts with a specialty bottle, but most of the measured drink is not in that bottle. The producer's US recipe calls for 1½ fl oz Agave Spirit Alternative, ½ fl oz fresh lime juice and about 6 fl oz soda water in one glass, with a lime wedge. The sparkling water is roughly three quarters of the stated pre-ice liquid volume. If you are buying for a table, count it first, not as an afterthought beside the base.

The calculation below stays close to the recipe's language: “about” remains about. It is a plan, not proof that every glass will consume precisely six ounces of mixer or finish at exactly eight ounces.

A first round for six

Six of the published individual pours call for 9 fl oz Agave Alternative and 3 fl oz fresh lime juice. At the producer's approximate topper, budget about 36 fl oz soda water. Add ice and six lime wedges to the list. Ritual says to pour the base into a glass, add lime, top with soda water and garnish; it describes individual glasses, not a prebatched pitcher.

Ritual's Agave Alternative product page lists 750 ml / 25.4 fl oz and 17 servings per container. At the 1½-oz Ranch Water pour, 25.4 ÷ 1.5 ≈ 16.9, so a full bottle nominally supports 16 complete base measures, with a partial remainder before losses. The producer's 17-serving figure is an approximate presentation, not a reason to promise a full seventeenth Ranch Water at this exact pour. More importantly, sixteen of them would demand about 96 fl oz of soda water—the mixer rather than the base is likely to be the bulky item.

Ritual mentions Topo Chico as an ideal soda-water example but also says any sparkling water can be used. We do not turn that into a claim that all such waters are identical in taste, carbonation, sodium or package size. The actual bottle or can you choose supplies those details. A 12-ounce package, if that is what you buy, would nominally cover two six-ounce toppers; a different package needs its own division. Check its label instead of assuming every small glass bottle is twelve ounces.

This drink should not be confused with Ritual's Paloma, which uses grapefruit soda and different measures. Both have agave-style alternative and lime, but a named mixer is part of the recipe. Swapping grapefruit soda for plain sparkling water—or vice versa—changes the documented basket. It may be a personal variation, not the formula described here.

If you want this glass for a gathering, the honest cart line is one Agave Alternative bottle, enough lime for three measured ounces, and roughly 36 ounces of sparkling water for six, plus ice. Keep unopened mixer available for late pours if you can. A base bottle alone does not provide the six finished drinks.