These drinks have a secret

For those who don’t drink, who aren’t drinking right now or who maybe drank too much the night before, a nonalcoholic beverage made with well-balanced, interesting flavours and thirst-quenching properties can be hard to come by. Consuming trendy sparkling waters by the case may be enough for some, but it can be nice to have something more, a drink just this side of extra.

Enter the nonalcoholic cocktail, otherwise known as the mocktail.

The drink fills a void for those who yearn for the crisp, complex notes of wine or a cocktail but don’t necessarily want the alcohol content — or the heaviness that makes some drinks a challenge on a hot day.

“Sometimes I’ll be drinking a glass of wine and just absolutely crush it because it’s so good, balanced and refreshing, then think, ‘I wish there wasn’t alcohol in this’,” said Ashley Santoro, the wine director of the Standard East Village, who enjoys the occasional nonalcoholic cocktail.

But no matter how innocuous it may be, the mocktail can’t seem to shake its reputation for being overly complicated, too sweet — and a little showy.

John deBary, the bar director at Momofuku, thinks perhaps all it needs is a little rebrand.

“For starters, we need to come up with a better name,” he said. “The word mocktail makes me die a little inside every time I hear it.”

DeBary isn’t alone in that perception. Atlanta magazine’s food editor, Julia Bainbridge, eats and drinks out almost nightly, but, for her, taking periodic breaks from cocktail consumption is also part of the job.

“In my profession, my idea about what’s a healthy level of intake can get skewed,” she said. “So it’s important to step back every once in a while.”

The word mocktail, however, is still a hard sell. To her, it sounds “something like the Flirtini from an old Sex And The City episode, but without the booze — juice, basically, with a cocktail price tag”.

For deBary, mixing alcohol-free drinks interesting enough to compete with a classic cocktail means building beverages with ingredients that mimic the heat and nuance of the harder stuff.

“Ginger is a steady go-to, tonic water, teas and concentrated cold brews, as well,” he said. “The key is to avoid making anything overly sweet and finding a way to incorporate bitterness and spice.”

Another pivotal ingredient, yielding a similarly unique tang, is vinegar. “Even if I order a green juice, I still crave the elements of what make wine or spirits so delicious, especially acidity and salinity,” Santoro said.

“At home, I make a lot of shrubs and drinking vinegars with added salt because there’s only so much acidity that lemon or citrus will give you.”

When building a mocktail of your own, take a page from our experts. Start with assertive and complex flavours: Think whole, tart lemon muddled with a pinch of salt, or floral hibiscus tea perked up with funky, fermented apple cider vinegar. Then, top with something bubbly and refreshing, whether spicy ginger beer, botanical tonic water, fizzy soda water or lightly effervescent kombucha.

There is no alcohol to be found, but, if it’s done right, you’ll be too pleased to notice.