What to drink when you're not drinking alcohol does not need to be an overly complicated question. We know how many of our customers enjoy our syrups for use everyday, from soda to coffee to non-alcoholic mixed drinks, and this mocktails round up will give you a lot of well-crafted options all in one place. Our syrups are formulated to bring delicious, complex, and sophisticated layers of flavor to any drink, so whether you choose to add alcohol is entirely your business.

There are, however, proportions you will want to keep in mind when pouring a mocktail- it isn't always as simple as leaving out the liquor from a cocktail recipe. The below recipes are some of our favorites when making non-alcoholic drinks for Dry January, Sober October, or any random day of the week.

Some drinks, particularly those that are alcohol forward, or rely heavily on the flavor of alcohol to balance the drink, and have very little other components (an Old Fashioned, for instance, which has only 1/4 ounce of liquid beyond the whiskey) will require more creativity or a non-alcoholic spirit to be successfully enjoyable. Just like a cook tries to balance salt, heat, acid and fats in a dish, so we bartenders try to seek balance in drinks. A successful drink, of any kind, relies on intriguing flavors and a balance of sweet, sour, bitter, dillution.

Simple Goodness Sisters syrups already contain a mix of tart, sweet, and either herbal or spice components in every flavor. The preservation methods we use rely on acidity for shelf stability, so we select flavor ingredeitns that can bring this acidity naturally so that we don't have to use chemical additives. This built in flavor complexity is what makes our sodas, just a combination of seltzer water and syrup, so interesting and tasty. A mocktail recipe takes this flavor blending even further, by introducing additional complexity.

These recipes use sour juices such as cranberry, lime, and lemon juices to bring tart acidity to balance out the sweet syrups. Or, they use complexly flavored bitters to bring a bitter-sweet balance. Some suggestions incorporate both for bitter-sweet-sour combos. You can add more interest by experimenting by adding textural difference to the drink such as adding liquid whipping cream, coconut milk or coconut cream. Not a fan of bubbly carbonated seltzer water? Try a mocktail with aloe water, chilled tea, or coconut water in place of the seltzer.

We hope you enjoy these NA mocktails and that by offering these at your next gathering, the people you love who don't drink alcohol will feel welcome and taken care of in a way that is too often missing from our American social scene. So much of what we do to gather socially can revolve around alcohol, and those abstaining can feel left out, uncomfortable, or just plain thirsty! We encourage you to always offer an underage and sober friendly option whenever you host, and these are a great place to start.

Makes 1 cocktail:

·      Ice, cubed

·      1 oz syrup in any Simple Goodness Sisters flavor

·      .5 oz fresh squeezed juice or 3 dashes bitters (if combining juice and bitters, use half of each, or to taste)

·      5 oz club soda

·      Garnishes such as fresh herbs and flowers

Combine ingredients in a glass and stir gently. Garnish with fresh citrus, berries, herbs and/or edible flowers. Combinations we love include:

• Blueberry Lavender + fresh lime juice  + club soda + sprig of lavender
• Blueberry Lavender syrup + lavender bitters + club soda + blueberries loose in the ice
• Apple Pie syrup + aromatic bitters + 1 oz apple juice + club soda + cinnamon stick
• Apple Pie syrup + lemon juice + 2 dashes cardamom bitters + club soda + apple slice fan
• Lemon Herb syrup + fresh grapefruit juice + lime coriander bitters + club soda + rosemary sprig
• Berry Sage syrup + cranberry juice + club soda +
• Berry Sage syrup + fresh lemon juice + club soda
• Rhubarb Vanilla syrup + fresh lemon juice + club soda
• Rhubarb Vanilla syrup + cardamom bitters + club soda
• Marionberry Mint syrup + lime juice + club soda
• Marionberry Mint syrup + tiki bitters + club soda