With nothing but care for you in my heart, I’ve got to start this blog by shattering some illusions. There is no such thing as a sugar free cocktail if you’re choosing to drink alcohol. Alcohol is sugar. It is absorbed in the body as sugar and it represents “empty” calories. Now, as someone for whom moderate drinking has always been possible, safe and enjoyable, I don’t actually consider the calories of alcohol to be empty. I think alcohol in moderation can be a beautiful thing and for me, the way that it can soften the lights, intensify a conversation and lower inhibition is worth a few calories.

This blog will feature cocktail recipes that are light on added sugar besides the alcohol, but the alcohol itself remains the biggest source of both calories and sugar in your drink. Now that we’ve established this, I do have some tricks up my sleeve to make balanced, tasty and enjoyable cocktails that are low in added sugar. As a bartender and recipe developer, I turn to teas, coconut water, muddled herbs, veggies and more to make low sugar drinks that don’t taste like sacrifice.

None of these recipes, however, will contain no added sugar. You can get that by adding a seltzer water to a shot of liquor, and you don’t need my help to come up with something that simple. Good cocktails are made by achieving balance between these flavor profiles: sweet, bitter, sour, and spirits. Bartenders know that all of them are necessary in some capacity to make a balanced drink. In these recipes, we will turn down the volume on the sweetness and use small amounts that come from real, natural ingredients like whole fruit, organic cane sugar, herbs and spices. The Simple Goodness simple syrups have saturated flavor and, like adding salt to a meal (another trick we will use in one of these recipes), these small amounts of sweetness will help the other flavors come through without overpowering.

A half ounce of our syrups contain between 6 and 12 grams of sugar, depending on the flavor. For context, a single tablespoon of ketchup has 4 grams of sugar, and tomato sauce about 10 grams. Given the choice between a delicious mocktail or cocktail and a serving of ketchup, we certainly know which one we'd prioritize!

Now I get that it may feel like a bait and switch if you googled "low sugar cocktails” and came here expecting zero calorie/non sugar drinks but since I don't believe in using non natural sugar substitutes, and since you came to me for expertise, I am going to give it. Sweetness is a key component in creating balance in cocktails. Like alcohol, sugar should be used in moderation. I won’t be giving you recipes using fake sweeteners, since I strongly object to those on a deep, personal level and get a major “ick” about the way that big food has tricked people into believing they are better for them (a blog for another day but in summary: there is nothing natural about getting our taste buds addicted to sweetness levels that exceed the sweetness of natural sugar, honey, or maple syrup by 400x.)

Now let’s get into it: low sugar cocktails are easy to mix with these recipes:

• 1 ½ ounces 100% agave tequila
• Teeny tiny pinch of salt, less that 1/8 teaspoon
• 1/2 of one lime, cut into wedges
• ¼ one orange, cut into wedges
• ½ ounce Simple Goodness Sisters Rhubarb Vanilla syrup, or preferred flavor
• 2 ounces lime flavored seltzer, such as Spindrift

Muddle the lime and orange pieces at the bottom of a cocktail shaker. Add the tequila, salt and syrup and 1 cup of ice. Cap and shake for 20 seconds. Strain the margarita into a fresh glass of ice and top with the lime seltzer.

• 1 ounce vodka
• 2 mint leaves, optional
• ½ ounce Simple Goodness Sisters Berry Sage, Marionberry Mint or Blueberry Lavender syrup
• ½ ounce fresh lemon juice
• 2 dashes citrus bitters
• 4 ounces cool black or green tea

Clap the mint between your hands and add it to a cocktail shaker with a cup of ice. Add the vodka, syrup, lemon juice, and bitters. Cap and shake for 20 seconds. Strain into a glass filled with fresh ice. Top with tea and stir.

• 1 ounce bourbon or scotch
• 2 dashes angostura bitters
• 1 barspoon measure (1/4 ounce) ounce Simple Goodness Sisters Berry Sage, Orange Vanilla or Cherry Lime Thyme syrup
• 2 ounces lapshoung tea
• Orange twist
• 1 cocktail cherry

In a mixing glass with a cup of ice, measure in all ingredients except for the cocktail cherry. Stir smoothly 10 times around. Strain into a chilled martini or coupe glass. Garnish with an orange twist over the top of the cocktail, drop it in. Spear a cocktail cherry on a toothpick and add it to the glass before serving.