SHAKE IT UP WITH THESE THREE ZERO-ALCOHOL COCKTAILS
THE beauty of new nonalcoholic spirits is that they pack enough of a punch to come through in sours and fizzes and don’t disappear when you mix with fresh juices or cordials. These three drinks – one ‘whisky’, one ‘gin’ and one long refresher – should expand your repertoire to satisfy non-drinking guests as well as yourself at any given hour of the day! In the name of research, I have also tried nonalcoholic rum and can wholeheartedly recommend you avoid it.
NON-ABV SOUR
A non-alcoholic version, below right, of an A&B Sour, which combines the classic cocktails whisky sour and amaretto sour. I used less syrup than in an alcoholic sour as Whissin is fairly sweet anyway.
METHOD: Separate one egg and pour the egg white, 35ml lemon juice, 7ml Orgeat almond syrup and 50ml Whissin nonalcoholic whisky into a cocktail shaker and do a ‘dry shake’ – without ice – in a shaker for 15 seconds. Fill the shaker with ice and shake again until the tin feels cold against your hand. Pour the sour into a short tumbler with ice or twisted lemon peel. THE PEEL Do you normally throw carrot peel in the bin? End the waste by turning it into carrot cordial and treat yourself to a long and refreshing cocktail.
METHOD: Put 500ml water, 500g caster sugar and 250g carrot
peel in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover and let it simmer for 30 minutes. Remove from the heat, and let it cool before straining it into a bottle. Once cool, combine with 50ml Seedlip Grove 42 and ice. Top
with soda and garnish with a sage leaf. NO-GRONI A classic Negroni is made with equal parts gin, Campari and sweet vermouth. This nonalcoholic version uses Sea Arch as a gin substitute and Crodino in place of Campari. It is a fizzier and slightly lighter than the real thing but has orange and herbal notes. METHOD: Pour 25ml Sea Arch, 25ml Crodino non-alcoholic aperitif and 25ml Versin non-alcoholic vermouth into a tumbler filled with ice and garnish with lemon peel.