photo by Anne SanGiovanni

Spirit free cocktails, also called "zero proof" cocktails or "mocktails" are gaining traction among drinkers and if you're interested in imbibing without alcohol, this recipe is a very good place to start. Built with a focus on balance, flavor, and presentation, an alcohol free cocktail presents a delicious and sophisticted option for those abstaining from alcohol for any reason.

This sober-friendly mocktail recipe embodies this perfectly, with a complex blend of flavors that is both refreshing and exciting to enjoy. It's well balanced between sweet (the syrups and pineapple), sour (the lemon and pineapple), bitter (grapefruit bitters), and spicy (ginger) profiles. It tastes a little bit tropical without being cloyingly sweet, as some of those blended, fruity, paper umbrella, belly up to the swim up bar vacation drinks can be. (Although with this winter weather that won't quit, I'd take a sugar bomb in a tall glass if it meant I'd be on vacation!) I digress- back to this very balanced, completly tasty sipper- it's worth the list of ingredients, especially because all of these can be used in lots of other drinks as well.

The line up in the photo above and suggested in the recipe are all Pacific Northwest, woman owned brands. Do you need these exact brands? No, but they worth their investment. I use them personally, and often. The bitters will never go bad and can be used in spritzes, sodas, and Old Fashioneds. The cherries have a long refrigerated life and you will never want another bright red, lye soaked, (sure, they are nostalgic) but just not great at all marashino cherry after you try these!

The creator of this recipe, Jojo Kitchen, is the bar manager at Rob Roy, a woman owned bar in Seattle's Belltown neighborhood that recently was nominated as a Finalist for Best Bar in the USA by the James Beard Foundation. As far as credentials go, that's a pretty good pedigree for a mocktail recipe! We partnered with Rob Roy to create this drink for Seattle Cocktail Week.

The guests we served this to at the Carnival of Cocktails (the big tasting event held during Seattle Cocktail Week) agreed- some folks came back for seconds and thirds! We went through somewhere over 700 samples to happy tasters, so the chances are good that you'll like it, even if you usually reach for an alcoholic drink. We even made them recently on Q13 Fox News and the anchor Liz Dueke was crazy for this drink.

The sober or "sober curious" lifestyles are gaining traction lately, with more drinkers than ever looking into how they can drink better. Not all choose to be completly dry. We are among those who consider themselves "damp drinkers" which trended on Tiktok during Dry January. As much as we love a delicious and well-built cocktail, sometimes it's nice to take a break from alcohol while still enjoying the fun of a special drink in your hands.

We are big supporters of the zero proof movement, as for too long the options for non-alcoholic drinkers were limited to soda or a "blue dolphin:" the code word for ordering water at a bar.

We're proud to be a part of this movement! Simple Goodness Sisters syrups, with our clean ingredient labels and the ability for you to mix upyour drink however you like it, are a great option for better, cleaner drinking.

We hope you enjoy this zero proof cocktail as much as we did- Happy Drinking!

photo by Anne SanGiovanni