The sober curious movement has grown a ton in the last 5 years (more on that here) and I am a big supporter of it. It means, though, that so have the number of online search queries for "mocktail recipes" and along with that, the number of disappointing results. Having done this myself a few times, I can honestly tell you that a lot of the recipes out there are NOT it for me. Most are too sweet, many are very processed or full of articial ingredients, and the other half are totally bitter blends of nonalcoholic spirits that are really an aquired taste. Most alcohol drinkers don't drink bitter apertitifs or amari straight, and most nonalcoholic drinkers don't want something in that realm either.

These are the essential building blocks of a good drink: sweet, sour, bitter, and spirit.

In addition, every drink needs proper dillution to blend and mellow the flavors, so ice is an essential building block (or a little extra water if it is a hot cocktail.) Every good alcohol free cocktail needs to contain at least two of these components to be called a cocktail, but the best drinks contain at least three for the most rounded and complete flavor experience: sweet, sour, bitter, and spirit. Our tongues and taste buds LOVE a push and pull effect, a contrast of flavors. That contrast is neccessary to achieve balance. As long as you know this, and recite it to yourself every time you make a drink, you will make infinitly better nonalcoholic mocktails. I have included examples of ingredients in each category that I often use to make a dependable drink, but there are a ton of options out there to stock your home (mocktail) bar.

Sweet- simple syrups like ours (choose one that is already full of flavor for best results. For instance, Simple Goodness Syrups use whole fruit, spices and herbs in handcrafted syrups instead of cheapp extracts and artificial ingredients. Even "natural flavors" are still extracts, so they don't carry nearly as clean and complex of a flavor as whole ingredients, and there is honestly zero oversight into how these are made so who knows how natural they actually are?) Also honey, grenadine (look for real stuff made with pomegranates), sugar, maple syrup, sweet fruit juices, and fresh muddled fruit cna be used to sweeten a drink, even lightly. Sugar is an essential flavor, but you can control how much you use when you mix your own drinks.

Bitter- nonalcoholic bitters or tinctures, the bitter taste of a citrus rind squeezed over the top of the drink. Tonic contains bitter agents as well as sugar (in the United States), and may be used to accomplish this.

Sour- the most common is fresh citrus juice (never use bottled!) such as lemons, limes, grapefruit, orange. There is also kumquat, yuzu, cranberry, and sour cherry possibilities. In Soda Fountains, chemical acids like acid phosphate and lactart may be used.

Other- this is where the fun happens. Mocktails really benefit from adding somethign from this category. It creates complexity and elevates the drink. Some we like to layer in include spice (warm spices like ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, pepper), floral (elderflower, rose, lilac, chamomille), heat (hot peppers) or herbs (fresh thyme, sage, rosemary, cilantro)

Dillusion- dillution is often forgot by the home bartender but is an essentail step to marry flavors. Shaking or stirring an alcohol free drink over ice completes this step. Similarly, it is common to overly dillute a drink, by adding too much seltzer on top. In an effort to get a taller or larger drink, you may be drowning out the flavors with bubbly water, tonic or club soda. Try measuring just 2-3 ounces of seltzer to top a drink and bring carbonation and lightness.

Spirit- You can still enjoy spirits in a sober lifestyle. The new alcohol removed spirits add in a lot of flavor and interest to a drink. However, there are things you should know. These spirits are not as shelf stable as liquor is, so they will not last as long, typical expiration dates are 3-4 months, so buy just a bottle or two at a time, preferably from a shop where you can sample before you buy. Also take note that they do not behave the same way as alcoholic spirits and are often not a good 1:1 substitute. By this I mean that the alcohol free gins, for instance, rely on juniper and herbs to bring a gin like experience that can be too agressive and overtake your sobriety friendly cocktail quickly. I always start by adding half the amount of the recommended spirits in a recipe.  

Glassware and Garnishing- don't skip it! Much of a drink experience lies in presentation, as well as the practicality of some glassware shapes assisting the drinker, for instance a stemmed glass prevents a warm hand from melting the ice and heating up a drink which might taste dilluted and sad in another glass style.) Garnishes should be eye catching, always edible (major pet peeve is a nonedible flower floating in a drink), and tell the drinker somethign about what they are going to enjoy. For instance, a sprig of fresh rosemary lights up the olafactory senses as the drinker appproaches a mocktail made with Herb Garden syrup in it, and therefore helps the drinker actually taste the rosemary differently.

By way of example, here is a drink recipe we use often as a formula for a tasty mocktail, and you can see from here how the above rules play out to create a balanced drink:

Ingredients:

• ·      Simple Goodness floral sugar rim (garnish)
• ·      1 cup of ice, cubed (to chill the drink)
• ·      1-ounce Simple Goodness Blueberry Lavender syrup, or your preferred flavor (the sweet and floral component)
• 11 ounce alcohol free tequila or your preferred spirit (the spirit component)
• ·      ½ ounce fresh squeezed lime or lemon juice (the sour component)
• ·      4 ounces club soda (dillution, a taller amount because the syrup and lime juice are also proportionatly larger)
• ·    fresh blueberries (the garnish, for color and texture)

How to Make :

First rim a tall, thin Collins cocktail glass by running a slice of citrus along the rim to wet it. Then add 1 tablespoon of floral sugar to a shallow dish and gently dip the rim of the glass in the sugar. Next add ice to the glass. Add syrup, fresh citrus juice and club soda and stir gently. Garnish with fresh blueberries.