After the holiday season when there are parties, office gatherings, and family get-togethers, if makes sense. To make it through any of the above, usually a good glass of whiskey is needed. A good glass of whiskey, though, quickly becomes two. Then there’s a beer or three, then a glass of champagne for the toast, and pretty soon you’re throwing up in the bathroom that only your boss can use and telling yourself, “It’s rally time, boys,” before getting back out there, grabbing the cheapest bottle of wine by the neck, and downing it as you attempt to show the intern how to do the Stanky Leg. It is for those times—or, really for the days after those times—that mocktails can come to the rescue.
More flavorful than drinks like water, and healthier than sugary drinks like soda, the drinks below are the perfect thing for drinking when you’re not drinking.
Casablanca
(Created by Ray Sakover for Slowly Shirley, NYC, pictured)
- 3/4 oz lemon
- 1/2 tsp turmeric juice
- 1/4 oz honey
- 1 oz date-demerara syrup
- 2-3/8 oz Moroccan syrup
Method: Build in a Collins glass over pebble ice. Garnish with a date wrapped in lemon twist and cinnamon/ mint palm tree.
Salted Rosemary Paloma
(Created by Naren Young for Dante, NYC)
- 2 oz grapefruit juice
- ½ oz salted rosemary syrup*
- Top with Perrier
Method: Build on ice in a highball glass. Garnish with a grapefruit slice and citrus salt rim.
*Salted Rosemary Syrup
- 70 oz water
- 30 oz sugar
- 3 rosemary sprigs
- 5 oz maldon salt
Method: Bring to a low boil. Turn off immediately and allow to cool. Strain and store in the fridge. Lasts 2 months
Eastside
(Created by John McCarthy for Greydon House, Nantucket)
- 1 oz cucumber
- 1 oz lime
- Top sparkling water
Method: build in highball glass over cube ice. Garnish with a cucumber slice, slap a mint sprig and insert.
Mangu Chao
(Created for and available at Chao Chao, NYC)
- 3 oz mango kaffir shrub*
- Club soda
Method: Pour shrub into highball glass filled with ice. Top with club soda. Garnish with salt rim and lime wheel.
*Mango kaffir shrub
- 2 cups mango
- 1 cup Kaffir lime leaves
- 2 cups sugar
- 1/2 cup mirin
- 1 1/2 cups rice vinegar
Method: Bring to a simmer then strain.
Mexican B.B. Gun
(Created by James Horn for Añejo, Tribeca)
- 1 oz house-made grenadine
- 1 oz fresh lime
- top with soda water
Method: Build in highball glass over ice. Garnish with lime wedge.
(Photo credit: Nick Voderman)
