Hi, Friends of Cocktails! I’m sure you’ve seen this scenario before: you wanted a non-alcoholic drink at a party, so the bartender would throw a bunch of fruit juices and flavored syrups into a shaker, give it a quick shake then dump it into your glass–and probably add an umbrella too. But when it comes to non-alcoholic cocktail recipes there has got to be a better way!
So today I’ll show you tips, tricks and recipes that will bring your mocktail game to a new level. We’ll cover them all through 3 non-alcoholic cocktail recipes that go beyond your simple fruit juices and syrups. We already have a full list of Zero Ingredients that we created on the channel, but today we’ll go over some basic principles that can help you create mocktails without them.
Our cocktails today will really show all your guests, even if they don’t drink alcohol, that you care about them–just like we care about our Patreon supporters! So they're getting a bonus mocktail recipe in the next issue of the Cocktail Time e-book, focused on non-alcoholic ingredients and cocktails. It will be available for download to all of our Patrons, and for purchase to all Friends of Cocktails under the shop tab on the Cocktail Time Patreon page.
New e-books will be dropping monthly, but for now, let’s get on to making some Cocktail Time-style mocktails, starting with the Zero Mojito. To make it as flavorful as possible, we’ll avoid using flavorless ingredients like water. Tea for example, offers a wide range of flavor profiles to bridge ingredients in a cocktail.
Other options like cold brew coffee can be used as a main ingredient or a subtle supporting flavor if you add just a barspoon or two. Another option is to make soda from tea or coconut water instead of plain soda water, but you can also use carbonated fermented drinks. As for ice, freeze tea into cubes so it enhances the drink's flavor as it melts. Alternatively, use tea concentrate in your mocktails if you’re chilling it with regular ice.
With all of that in mind we’ll make our mint tea syrup using coconut water, store-bought mint tea, sugar, and green food coloring, but this is optional. It’s Mocktail Time!
Coconut Mint Syrup
● 150mL · 5oz Coconut Water
● 2.5g Mint Tea
● White Sugar
● Green Food Coloring (Optional)
Start by bringing the coconut water to a boil, then add the tea and let it steep for 5 minutes. Now strain the mixture and add an equal amount of sugar by weight. Stir until the sugar dissolves or use a magnetic stirrer for hands-free mixing, and once that’s done you can add the green minty hue to your syrup with a small amount of green food coloring. Bottle and label, as always.
This is a great start, but the Zero Mojito will be made even better because of our next 2 tips: Fermented ingredients will add acidity, bubbles, and body to cocktails, which is especially important when you don’t have spirits. While homemade kombucha, ginger beer, or kvass can have small amounts of alcohol, you can find alcohol-free versions in stores.
Finally, when you want to boost flavors, salt is your friend. Use a 20% saline solution for precision and be mindful of pre-existing salt content in some ingredients, like balsamic vinegar. With that, we are now ready to build the cocktail!
Zero Mojito
● 15mL · 0.5oz Lime Juice
● 22.5mL · 0.75oz Coconut Mint Tea
● 2 drops 20% Saline Solution
● Unflavored Kombucha to Top
● Mint Bouquet Garnish
I’ll build it in a highball glass over ice, starting with the lime juice, tea, and saline solution. We’ll now add the kombucha, using a scale to be precise without losing any carbonation. Mix the ingredients with a gentle lift of a bar spoon, then garnish the cocktail with a mint bouquet. Don’t forget to spank it on the side of the glass before placing it on top. Straw is optional, I prefer to drink long drinks without it– cheers, to Dry January or any other reason you want delicious, non-alcoholic cocktails!
The richness of kombucha and the freshness of mint are a perfect pairing. The coconut water adds just enough to elevate the experience, making this combination full-bodied, bubbly, and intriguing. Now onto cocktail number 2: the Penicilin…ish. Replicating a full-bodied sour cocktail that hits you in the face with strong flavors of scotch, smoke, and honey-ginger syrup is no easy feat, but with these next few tips we’ll come really close.
First, to replace the "kick" of alcohol, add spicy ingredients like ginger, chili, or horseradish, but be careful not to overdo it—these are meant to season the drink, not dominate it. Now to replicate the smoky flavors you’d usually get from scotch or mezcal, you can smoke individual ingredients or the whole cocktail, or even use smoky ingredients like lapsang souchong tea, or even smoky paprika.
So let’s start by creating a syrup that will help us combine these tips into one. We’ll make this with Lapsang souchong tea, a black tea with leaves that are smoke-dried over a pinewood fire, and of course floral honey and ginger.
Smoky Honey Syrup
● 200mL · 6.66oz Hot Water
● 4g Lapsang Souchong
● 40mL · 1.33oz Fresh Ginger Juice
● 145g Floral Honey
To make the tea I’ll steep the lapsang souchong in the boiling water for 4 minutes. Once strained, and with plenty of smoky notes in the room, it’s time to juice the ginger. No need to peel it, especially when using a slow juicer, but of course make sure you wash it thoroughly. The last step is to combine 55g of our tea with the ginger juice and honey before moving onto our next tip.
Vinegars and shrubs are highly flavorful ingredients that add complexity and a "bite" to the drink. They're easy to infuse, but some find vinegar’s bite too strong, which you can neutralize with baking soda and add another acid, which is what we’ll do today.
Lemon-vinegar Acidifier
● 240mL · 8oz White Wine Vinegar
● 16g Baking Soda
● 8g Lemon Zest
● 11g Citric Acid
● 3.4g Malic Acid
First we’ll neutralize the vinegar with baking soda, so mix them together in a container that’s large enough to handle the foaming. Once the foaming subsides, pour this into a blender and add the powdered acids and the lemon zest–food-grade and washed as always. Blend everything together, then strain the mixture through a muslin cloth filter.
We now have a lemon vinegar acidifier with lemon’s acidity and the flavor profile of a white wine vinegar, which means we can move onto our next tip for mocktails: milk and whey add creaminess, body, and protein to the cocktail, creating a smooth texture when shaken. You can of course use dairy alternatives like almond, rice, or coconut milk for the same result.
This time I’ll go with regular whey, like what we used for making Milk Syrup.
The Penicillin-ish
● 22.5mL · 0.75oz Smoky Syrup
● 22.5mL · 0.75oz Lemon-vinegar acidifier
● 105mL · 3.5oz Whey
● 2 drops 20% Saline Solution
● Lapsang Souchong Spray
● Candied Ginger Garnish
Into a chilled shaker add the syrup, acidifier, whey and saline solution, along with plenty of ice. Give it a quick shake to chill the ingredients and whip up the protein in whey. Double strain the cocktail over a clear ice cube in a low tumbler glass, and for garnish I’ll add a candied ginger and spray the cocktail with the Lapsang souchong tea perfume for that smoky finish.
This drink is nicely smoky with a rich, full-bodied mouthfeel from the whey. The acidity is balanced and smooth, which isn’t typical for shrubs or vinegars. A great texture and a truly unique mocktail, but for the last one we’ll make a non-alcoholic punch, again using a milk base for the body and balsamic vinegar for acidity.
We covered both of these, so what other things should you know when making non-alcoholic cocktails? First, enhance cocktails with spices like cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, star anise, tonka bean, or vanilla. These will add warmth and depth. You can infuse them into syrups, vinegars, or even sprinkle them in powdered form directly into the cocktail.
Next, instead of simple syrup, use gomme syrup for added silkiness and richness. For even better results, incorporate gomme into a milk syrup, but it’s easier to buy pre-made from brands like Liber & Co. I’ll go with Liber&Co.’s Demerara Gum syrup which will add body but also some nice molasses notes, which will enhance our Strawberry Punch, but first let’s make more tea.
Hibiscus Tea
● 5g Hibiscus Tea
● 500g Boiling Hot Water
Steep the tea in the boiling water, then strain it and you’re ready to make our final drink of the day. We’ll also use balsamic vinegar, strawberry, powdered chili, and our demerara syrup. And you of course need milk, or a dairy-free alternative, to make milk punch.
Strawberry Milk Punch
● 300g Strawberries
● 2oz · 60mL Demerara Gum Syrup
● 1.5oz · 45mL Balsamic Vinegar (6% Acidity)
● 225mL · 7.5oz Warm Milk
● Chili Powder
● Orange Garnish
We’ll make this whole cocktail in a blender. So let's first add in the strawberries, gum syrup, balsamic vinegar and a bit of freshly ground chili powder. I’ll say you can add this to taste, but be mindful of your guests. Now blend everything on high speed for about half a minute to get a nice uniform puree, and we’ll then pour this whole batch into 225mL or 7.5oz of warm milk.
The acidity will make the milk curdle, which will help with filtration, but we’ll still have some of the milk’s smooth texture. Let it sit for about 30 minutes, then strain through a muslin cloth. Give it time and once it’s done bottle your milk punch and store it in the fridge until it cools. When ready, I’ll just serve it in a low tumbler glass over ice.
Just give it a light stir and pick one of the many possible garnishes - chili, strawberry, chili strings, orange peel—whatever suits your punch. I’m going with the simple orange for mine. As for the taste, strawberry and floral hibiscus notes intertwine beautifully throughout this punch. Subtle spiciness adds warmth and body, complemented by the balsamic vinegar. An excellent non-alcoholic sipper.
With that we’ve reached the Bottom of the Glass. This week’s recommended read is Fix the Pumps by a friend of the channel, Darcy O’Neal. An excellent read on all things soda, which as we mentioned can bring your mocktails to a new level, so give it a read. With that I’ll see you next week when it’s Cocktail Time. Cheers!