Mocktails and non-alcoholic spirits and wine offer grown-up flavors without the booze
By John Fladd
jfladd@hippopress.com
Until relatively recently, your non-alcoholic options when out on the town were fairly limited. You could order iced tea or soda, or maybe some fruit juice. According to bar owner Dan Haggerty, that situation has evolved over the past few years; there has been an upswing in customers looking for alcohol-free options.
“More and more people have started saying, ‘You know, I’m not really drinking tonight,’” he said. Haggerty is the co-owner of two bars in downtown Manchester, Industry East (28 Hanover St.) and its sister establishment Stashbox (866 Elm St.), as well as a soon-to-open dry bar called Without.
“We’ve definitely seen an uptick in people who are cutting down [their drinking] to once a week or whatever it might be, but more and more people have been asking for drinks without alcohol. Maybe they’re trying to be more healthy. I think there’s been a bit of a shape shift in just the societal view.”
Andrew Solis has a theory that, like so many things, attitudes toward drinking changed noticeably in the wake of the Covid epidemic. He said being isolated during lockdown gave many people an opportunity to change habits. Solis is the co-owner of Cut Above Zero-Proof Spirits, a line of alcohol-free spirits. He noticed a cultural shift during the pandemic.
“I’d say most people didn’t keep their habits pre-Covid during Covid,” Solis said. “They either went one way or the other. We saw a lot of consumers drink more alcohol.” At least at first. “But all of us were looking at ourselves in Zoom screens and our mirrors more often than we would before that. I think perception of our appearance and our health was shifted slightly because of that. And so I think we see that carrying over after Covid, [not drinking] has become a socially acceptable habit. It lost that stigma, I think, that existed always, which is if someone’s not drinking and they used to, there would be whispers: ‘Do they have a problem?’ ‘What’s going on?’ ‘Are they sick?’ Now it’s seen as a positive and a proactive choice.”
Brittany Gagnon is the owner of Blossom and Vine Creative in Goffstown and leads monthly workshops teaching home entertainers to make alcohol-free drinks.
“What I try to get across to people,” Gagnon said, “is that if you’re choosing not to drink, whether it be long-term or whether it be just for that one event, there are other options if you’re interested in something more than simply sparkling water and juice mixed together. There are nice options that you can put together and feel like you’re having something special because you are having something special and something that’s high-quality without feeling like your only choice is alcohol, if that’s not something that you want. I try to introduce people to some of the options so that they can try some and get an idea of what they might like, what they might want to look into more.”
Familiar cocktails with alcohol-free spirits
It wasn’t too long ago that finding non-alcoholic spirits was a challenge.
“I don’t want to say they weren’t even around,” said Joseph Mollica, Chairman of the New Hampshire Liquor Commission, “but they weren’t on anyone’s radar 10 years ago.” He said the state liquor stores have been working with the hospitality industry in New Hampshire to serve non-drinking consumers better. “We’re kind of a tourist state,” he said. “People want to go out and celebrate with their friends whether they’re having an alcohol cocktail or a nonalcoholic cocktail. It’s keeping people in the restaurants. [Non-alcoholic beverages] have really come a long way and we’re pretty excited about it.”
New Hampshire’s liquor stores now carry a range of non-alcoholic products, Mollica said.
“Our top 20 stores have the full selection — Ritual is the name of one of the companies. They have a whiskey alternative. Cut Above is another company; they have a gin, a whiskey, and they have a blanco [tequila]. We probably have 100+ [items] out in the stores that are available to purchase the whole year round.”
Andrew Solis from Cut Above said his company makes zero-proof spirits with flexibility in mind.
“We know that the majority of people who consume adult non -alcoholic beverages may also consume alcoholic beverages,” he said. ”So Cut Above was designed to be a one-for-one replacement in their favorite cocktails. But it’s also designed to be used with traditional spirits. The example I like to give is I like to make a gin and tonic when I’m preparing dinner. Now I just use half of the gin that I always used, then sub in our gin for the other half, and now it’s 50 percent less ABV [Alcohol By Volume], 50 percent less alcohol content in that cocktail, and I don’t really, like I say, miss that other ounce. It’s a way to put the consumer in the driver’s seat when it comes to the amount of alcohol they’re consuming.”
Brittany Gagnon depends on zero-proof versions of familiar liquors that the people in her workshops are familiar with.
“So there are two non-alcoholic drinks that are my go-to when I’m entertaining,” Gagnon said. “One is the non-alcoholic margarita; that tends to be a crowd-pleaser. Most people enjoy margaritas. And so that one with a tequila alternative is always a good choice. Another one that some people like the strong taste and some don’t, but for those that like gin, I do a non-alcoholic gin and tonic and I use, there’s an organic brand called Olive Nation. They make a juniper extract. If you put one eighth of a teaspoon of juniper extract, lime, and a nice tonic water, it tastes exactly like a real gin and tonic. You don’t miss the real thing at all.”
Alcohol-free beer or wine
Emily Holbrook Jennings is a sales representative for Vinilandia New Hampshire (vinilandianh.com), a wine importer and distributor. Her theory is that the demand for non-alcoholic drinks isn’t as new as it seems.
“I think that the demand has probably been there,” she said, “but the products haven’t been there to support it.”
Jennings said alcohol-free wines have become more complex in recent years.
“[Consumers] want something that tastes, I say nice,” she said, “as in having like maybe some more bitter flavors — more like an Amaro base. People like vermouth and they like that kind of style, but they don’t want anything sticky sweet and they don’t want soda. I think sweetness isn’t generally in the adult palate. We work with a lot of producers that grow organic grapes and they take like the highest level of control of quality that they can so they’re producing a better-quality product. I think they’ve come a long way. [The producers of a] lot of the wines that we carry use reverse osmosis so the alcohol actually spins out, versus pasteurization, which before that sort of cooked the alcohol out so you can imagine that didn’t taste very good. Now these are all coming from true winemakers who have figured out how to do the de-alcoholization part.”
Another advantage of zero-proof wines, Jennings said, is that they allow drinkers to stretch out the time they spend drinking with friends.
“They allow people to enjoy session drinking [this is a term wine enthusiasts use to describe staggering their consumption of different types of wine]. They can have a fun sparkling wine or something like that and still feel festive but not be actually drinking, you know, prosecco or Champagne. The non-alcoholic wines allow them to celebrate all day without getting drunk, kind of like taking a break in between, so say you do have a Champagne or prosecco to start with, and then the next drink that you had would be a non-alcoholic sparkling drink. So you’re kind of balancing it out, taking a session of this and a session of that, kind of just slowing down your alcohol intake.”
Mocktails
“Mocktail” is a term that has become popular in recent years to describe a mixed drink specifically designed without alcohol. These have become especially available at high-end cocktail bars. Sarah Maillet, co-owner of 815 Cocktails & Provisions in Manchester, said her staff takes a lot of time and effort to design mocktails for guests with sophisticated tastes.
“The biggest priority,” she said, “is that it doesn’t feel like a downgrade. Adult alcohol-free drinks need complexity, balance, appeal and intention. You have to think about bitterness, acidity, texture, aromatics — not just sweetness. We think about mouthfeel, presentation, glassware, garnish and how the drink fits into our overall menu. It ends up feeling just as deliberate and elevated as any other cocktail. Our job is to bring the same level of creativity and respect we give any other drink on the menu.”
Dan Haggerty from Industry East and Stashbox said he and his staff always have several mocktails on the menu and rotate them frequently.
“We like to switch them up,” he said. “Like we do with any menu item, if there’s one that’s a really big hit, we’ll keep it on [the menu]. But we do like to rotate them. That’s kind of the fun part [of designing] mocktails is you don’t have to come up with deciding whether or not this should be a vodka drink or a tequila drink. Whatever the flavor of the drink is that you came up with, that’s what it is. The pressure is off essentially, right? So it lends itself to being extremely seasonal and also you can kind of switch them up whenever you want really, right? People are looking, you know, specifically speaking to Stashbox and Industry, we are a bar that serves alcohol. So we don’t want to put a million choices on the menu. Again, having a smaller number available does also lend itself to switching them up more often, you know? And we keep a lot of those ingredients on hand anyway, so if there’s one that might not be on the menu at that time, we can probably still make it.”
Mocktail recipes
Tamarind Fizz
Inspired by a recipe from A Cut Above, drinkcutabove.com. Andrew Solis and Blanca Silva-Solis, the owners of Cut Above, describe this as “a perfect blend of sweet, tart, and botanical.”
1 ounce Cut Above Gin, Cut Above Mezcal, or a 50/50 blend
4 ounces tamarind soda
1 ounce fresh squeezed lime juice
Lightly cracked ice
Fresh mint for garnish
In a mixing glass, combine the zero-proof spirits, lime juice, tamarind soda, and cracked ice. Stir gently for 30 seconds to chill completely.
Strain over fresh cracked ice in a tall glass.
Bruise the fresh mint — you can roll it between your palms, slap it against your wrist, or crush it against your countertop with the heel of your hand. Garnish the drink with it. The aroma of fresh mint will boost and improve the flavor of your tamarind fizz.
Raspberry Dreams
From the New Hampshire Liquor and Wine Outlet’s New Hampshire Mocktail Month Guide, available online at liquorandwineoutlets.com/responsibility.
2 ounces homemade raspberry puree (see below)
1 ounce simple syrup
½ ounce fresh squeezed lime juice
4 ounces carbonated water
To make raspberry puree, thaw a bag of frozen raspberries. (Frozen berries will work as well as or possibly better than fresh ones. Because you are pureeing them, the sometimes sad texture of prefrozen berries will not be an issue.) Run the berries through a blender for a full minute, then strain the puree through a fine-mesh strainer; raspberries have a truly shocking amount of seeds.
In a mixing glass, add ice, raspberry puree, simple syrup, and lime juice, and stir to combine. Add the carbonated water, and stir very gently, so that everything is well mixed but the seltzer hasn’t lost its fizz.
Strain over fresh ice in a tall glass, and enjoy with a straw.
Cucumber Sparkle
A crowd-pleasing batch cocktail.
12 ounces (1.5 cups) fresh squeezed lime juice
8 ounces (1 cup) cucumber syrup (see below)
16 ounces (2 cups) tonic water
16 ounces (2 cups) seltzer
Garnish — 1 lime, thinly sliced
In a large container with at least a gallon capacity, whisk the lime juice and syrup together. Gently stir in the tonic water and seltzer. If you are serving this in a punch bowl, float a large decorative block of ice. I have a small Bundt pan that I like to fill and freeze for a ring of fancy ice.
Cucumber Syrup with maddeningly vague measurements
Wash a couple of cucumbers, and chop them into half-inch dice. Don’t worry about peeling them. Freeze the cucumber pieces until they are solid — a couple of hours or overnight.
Transfer the frozen cucumber pieces to a medium saucepan and add an equal amount (by weight) of white sugar. Cook over medium heat. This mixture will seem too dry until the cucumbers start to give up their juice. The freezing process will have pierced all the cell walls, and there will be a surprising amount of juice. Stir occasionally. At some point you might want to encourage the process along with a potato masher. Bring to a boil briefly, to make sure that all the sugar is completely dissolved.
Remove from the heat and let the mixture cool for half an hour. Strain with a fine-meshed strainer and bottle. This will keep for a month or so in your refrigerator. Aside from its use in drinks, this syrup is really good mixed into your morning yogurt.
Featured image: A Breakfast Nook. Photos on this page and page 9 are of drinks crafted by Sian Quinn, the creator of mocktails at 815 Cocktails & Provisions in Manchester. The cocktails and mocktails can often be formulated to add or take out alcohol, depending on the drinker’s preference.
