Maybe you had a rough night last night. Maybe you don’t drink. Maybe you are really just craving a blood orange martini, hold the vodka. Now, it’s even easier and more common to find delicious and inventive “mocktails” at NYC’s hippest establishments. And they are pretty delicious!
The Wall Street Journal’s Elizabeth Gunnison Dunn delves deep into the world of non-alcoholic concoctions and seems to be pleasantly surprised that the city’s mixologists are stepping up their game in regards to making tasty drinks for teetotalers. Gone are the days of non-drinkers (even if just for the night) being stuck sipping a flat, sugary cranberry and club soda. Now, there are drinks made of artisanal teas, house-made syrups and organic fresh-aqueezed juice.
Since the emergence of the craft cocktail movement, hardcore mixology bars – including Death & Co., Experimental Cocktail Club, Raines Law Room and, the granddaddy, Milk & Honey – have cropped up al over NYC, offering tipplers insanely creative options never before on the mainstream drinker’s radar.
Naturally, with all of these mixology “laboratories”, as Dunn refers to them, bartenders are now free to come up with their own blends of herbs and spices – Stephen Yorsz from Leave Rochelle Out of It has created his own Homemade Fireball shot, using a blend of All Spice and Cinnamon – savory ingredients like mushrooms, fresh squeezed fruit and vegetable juices and floral oils for use in both alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages alike.
And some, like Eben Freeman, from The Butterfly and Michael White’s Altamarea Group, are making their own house-made sodas including raisin flavor and smoked Coca-Cola for a different spin on classic cocktails.
“The whole ‘mixology’ craze has been spurred by people wanting to consume less and be more knowledgeable about what they drink. People just aren’t drinking the way they did years ago,” Freeman told the Journal. “People now feel comfortable saying to the bartender, ‘Make me a nonalcoholic cocktail.’ That rarely happened even five or 10 years ago.”
Photo courtesy of The Wall Street Journal
Mocktail Tips from the Pros (source: Wall Street Journal)
Recipes provide a nice starting point, but the best way to find a nonalcoholic drink that suits your tastes is to design your own. Here, top bartenders offer advice for crafting soft cocktails
1. A flavored syrup is the simplest and most valuable weapon that a bartender has. Heat sugar and water on the stovetop and you can infuse it with a vast range of flavors, from herbs to spices to citrus zests. —Eben Freeman, Altamarea Group
2. A good trick is to look at recipes for vodka drinks, and simply swap out the vodka for sparkling water. Vodka is tasteless, so omitting it won’t change a drink’s flavor profile. —Bryan Dayton, Acorn, Denver
3. The first and most important rule when attempting a virgin cocktail is to start with the highest quality ingredients you can get, from juices to spices to syrups. You can’t cook a great steak out of a bad piece of meat, and so it goes with cocktails. —Alex Kratena, Artesian Bar, London
4. The vast majority of nonalcoholic drinks end up including three elements: a citrus, a sweetener and effervescence. Carbonated water adds texture and acts as a bridge for other flavors, without contributing any additional sweetness. —Alex Day, Honeycut, Los Angeles
5. Always think about dilution. If, say, you’re out to make a nonalcoholic mojito and you simply omit the rum, you’re going to end up with an unpleasantly concentrated mixture of lime, sugar and mint. You need something in place of the alcohol to stretch the flavors out. Remember, water is the primary ingredient in lemonade, not sugar and lemons. —Eben Freeman
Our Best Stories Delivered Daily
