New year, healthy new you … or something like that. Our local distillery is offering a few mocktails that I thought might help inspire similar drinks to recreate at home:
The first three on your list get my attention. Do they offer details?
The surgeon general’s new alcohol warning is something that takes some processing after years of hearing that moderate drinking reduces heart disease and stroke. But data speaks. The data on phenylephrine was there for a long time before the message broke through that it’s no more effective than a placebo as a decongestant.
This looks like a pleasantly riffable list of ingredients.
Yesterday I tried making a virgin sangria base with pomegranate/blueberry juice, cut up fruit and a touch of simple syrup, meant to be combined with sparkling water over ice. My experimental effort was just okay. Needs something more. I still have some of my mixture so I’m going to infuse part of it with ginger slices now to see what happens.
I find that fresh ginger zings up almost anything. I used to absolutely hate ginger as a youngin’ (the worst experience was biting into a chocolate praline, not knowing it was hiding candied ginger — I still can’t abide candied ginger & think it tastes like sweet soap ), BUT we had TPSTOG in our Philly pad due to the Viet market’s vicinity, and I fell in love.
I like a spicy ginger beer, but still find most of them too sweet.
My go-tos right now are club soda with Angostura bitters, TJ’s lemon-elderflower soda, Spindrift unsweetened fruit juice sodas, and canned tonic water with lime. We were gifted a bottle of Seedlip Garden 108 last Jan. and were very underwhelmed (almost flavorless).
I recently tried a cocktail made with Dhos bittersweet, and hated the stevia flavor. (There really should be a warning label for that kind of thing!). Phony Negroni and Devil’s Foot N/A Negroni are both quite enjoyable, as are Casamara Club bitter sodas.
I’m intrigued by this bitter Monin syrup: https://a.co/d/ey4LQxj but not sure I went to shell out the cash. Has anyone here tried it?
Harters
( Who put the dip in the dip da dip da dip. DEMAND ANSWERS)
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Not a mocktail as such, I’m currently enjoying a glass of Martini Vibrante - a non-alcoholic version of their red vermouth. It was a Christmas present.
I’m glad to be able to re-engage with a Martini product after many years absence. My godfather, Charles, introduced me to the “real thing” at quite an early age. He fought in Italy during WW2 and got a taste for vermouth there. It became a drink of choice - something I suspect beer drinking Dad (they were friends and colleagues) didnt really approve of.
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Harters
( Who put the dip in the dip da dip da dip. DEMAND ANSWERS)
9
When we were in Cyprus in the autumn, the hotel had a drink on the mocktail list which they called a “Cyprus Refresher”. Seemingly very simple - lemon squash, soda and lots of mint. I’ve tried to replicate this at home but havent found a cordial that’s as sharp/sour as the one they used. I might have to check out the nearby Turkish food shop to see i they stock anything likely.
That sounds like the NA version of a longdrink my mom introduced me to when I was 13 or so, at one of my first visits to a fancy restaurant. I still vividly remember sitting outside on the patio with her and feeling so grownup! It was made with mint liqueur and sprite, and I cannot for the life of me remember what it was called. Maybe it’ll come back to me.
), BUT we had TPSTOG in our Philly pad due to the Viet market’s vicinity, and I fell in love.
