The Rise of the Sophisticated Mocktail: Alcohol-Free Drinks Go Gourmet

Now a fixture of fine dining, alcohol-free mocktails may well be the most interesting option on the drinks menu these days. Pair them with a multicourse restaurant meal, or mix them at home with these nine refreshing recipes

Source: WSJ

By Aleksandra Crapanzano

Aug. 23, 2017

ONE NEEDS NO excuse to order a cocktail. The pure pleasure of sipping is reason enough. But there are times when a drink serves an additional, culinary purpose. An aperitif before dinner teases the appetite and awakens the palate. A digestif offers burning clarity and a welcome, stomach-calming astringency at the end of a meal. Until very recently, however, if you weren’t drinking alcohol, there was little of interest to serve these tasty functions. Sure, you could order fruit punches and sugary mocktails, but nothing with the finesse of a well-conceived cocktail. Nothing, in other words, that hit that ideal balance between acidity and sweetness, with enough complexity to stir mind and palate alike. That, happily, is no longer true.

Bartenders and mixologists across the country are upping their soft game, creating mocktails with the same degree of attention and creativity once reserved only for the hard stuff.

Nick Bennett, head bartender at Porchlight in Manhattan, applauds this inclusive spirit. “If someone is coming to your bar and asking for a drink, they are looking to be part of the night’s celebrations,” he said. “And as bartenders, we wouldn’t want to serve something that we wouldn’t happily drink ourselves.”

Chad Walsh, beverage director and sommelier at the Manhattan restaurant Agern, offers a nonalcoholic pairing menu of eight drinks for $80. When he first offered this alternative to the usual wine pairing, he worried that the price tag would be a deterrent, even if the time and labor it takes to mix eight rather complicated drinks necessitates that high figure. “But people want that experience,” he said, musing on the menu’s popularity. “It’s great for the staff, too, because they start thinking of flavors in a different way. For example, we’ll look at why we might pair Cabernet Sauvignon with a particular dish, and we’ll think about what in that pairing can inspire us to create a nonalcoholic alternative.”

Mr. Walsh and other bartenders are finding a growing number of ingredients to draw on as they conceive their alcohol-free alternatives. This month, two new nonalcoholic distilled beverages will make their U.S. debut. Already popular in Europe, the two spirits made by Seedlip-woodsy Spice 94 and the herbal Garden 108-have quickly made their way onto menus at Agern and Eleven Madison Park in New York, French Laundry in California’s Napa Valley and Atelier Crenn in San Francisco.

Ben Branson, creator of Seedlip’s spirits, discovered a 1651 edition of “The Art of Distillation” while trawling the web in 2013. Intrigued, he followed the recipes for a variety of medicinal tonics only to find they tasted awful. So he began experimenting with herbs grown on his family’s 300-year-old farm in Lincolnshire, England. The result: spirits that are vegan, free of gluten and added sugar and absent alcohol. Amanda Hesser, CEO and founder of the website Food52, which sells both Seedlip varieties, said, “We fell in love with the purity and intensity of Seedlip. Almost immediately, it’s become one of our best sellers.”

Seedlip Garden 108 is distilled from peas, hay and herbs, while Seedlip Spice 94 is made with cardamom, oak and grapefruit. Both pair well with tonic water. “When two friends go into a bar, and one orders a vodka and tonic and the other orders a Seedlip and tonic, they can watch the barman doing the same thing. No one feels left out,” Mr. Branson said.

The fast-growing soda company Dry Sparkling was launched by founder and CEO Sharelle Klaus in 2005. Now the mother of four children, Ms. Klaus spent close to a decade, she said, either pregnant or getting pregnant. One evening, she had dinner plans at the French Laundry, but the idea of an extraordinary meal without wine pairings was so disheartening she canceled her reservation. Regret sparked inspiration, however, and led Ms. Klaus to create her line of beverages.

The Dry Sparkling website offers possible food matches: cucumber soda with ceviche; rhubarb soda with barbecue; juniper with filet mignon, pho or Cioppino; blood orange with tacos, oysters or scallops. “When I launched the company, it was a risky idea, but I believed that American palates were changing and expecting more,” said Ms. Klaus. Twelve years later, Dry Sparkling can be found in 30,000 stores in the U.S., including Target and Whole Foods .

Homemade sodas are nothing more than infused simple syrup topped with sparkling water. With minimal effort, most can be made at home. Try experimenting with infusions of spices, flowers and herbs. Once you have a few flavorful syrups in your fridge, making homemade sparkling drinks is as easy as opening a bottle.

Bear in mind that, like cocktails, mocktails are best when they are neither too sweet nor too bitter. One well-balanced category of drink, shrubs, made with fruit and vinegar, “are super food-friendly, beautiful and a good way to use seasonal fruit and preserve it,” said Mr. Walsh. Florals can add an exotic touch to citrus. A few drops of rose water in lemonade or a splash of orange-blossom water in orange juice, for example, can lend just enough intrigue. Adding a touch of vanilla to limeade creates the illusion of creaminess. A few dashes of bitters in grenadine turns a child’s drink into a more refined adult one.

The mocktail recipes above are good anytime day or night. But consider them part of a day’s progression, and plan ahead. As a general rule of thumb, people like a bit of spice at brunch. In this context the Fountain of Roots, a cross between an Indian lassi and a virgin Bloody Mary, works beautifully. When you’re lounging beach- or poolside, a craving for coconut often strikes. A Thai’d Down offers all the hallmarks of a tropical drink without knocking you over the head with the sugar and booze of a piña colada. A glass of Raspberry Rose Soda, Strawberry Basil Soda or Hibiscus Limeade are good afternoon pick-me-ups. And the rich, peachy Georgia on My Mind will tide you over to dinner. Come dusk, it’s time for an aperitif. The Amalfi, the N/A Groni and the Saffron and Cinnamon on the Rocks tip the balance in favor of acidity and bitterness to perk up the palate, as would a Seedlip and tonic.

Over dinner, Mr. Walsh might pair a lovage-and-dill soda with an appetizer of roast beets, or a Concord grape shrub with roast lamb. For the last drink of the night, he serves cold-brew coffee with a touch of lemon, a few drops of simple syrup and a dusting of sumac. But for those of you who want to drift off to dreamland, there’s always lavender soda. Medicinal? Maybe not. But definitely nothing to mock.