Recently I treated myself to an indulgence: Two bottles of non-alcholic liquor for the purpose of experimenting with cocktails.
I do occassionally drink alcohol, so why NA? Over the last few years, my interest in the vast world of cocktails has increased, but at the same time my interest in the effects of alcohol has decreased. For me, even a single drink can have a big impact on my sleep, even if I hydrate well (I drink a lot of water).
I order mocktails all the time at restaurants (not exclusively–if there’s an enticing cocktail, I might get that instead), so I thought I might try to make some at home. For my birthday, I bought a bottle of NA gin and another bottle of NA Caribbean rum.
So far, I’m loving the experiment. It’s fun to mix up a tasty drink after a day of work (and it’s again nice that I don’t get a buzz, because I often return to work for a few hours after dinner). I’ve made a bay breeze with the 270 Botanicals rum and a gin and tonic with the Cerocero white grapefruit and lemon grass gin.
Two questions for you: If you’ve ever experimented with mocktails at home, do you have an NA liquor that you recommend? And based on the ingredients I have (the two bottles, plus cranberry juice, lemon juice, and tonic water, plus anything other mixers I can get from the grocery store), do you have a favorite cocktail?
Hi Jamey
I’ve been following your column for a long time and I absolutely love it – your positivity, kindness and thoughtfulness are a real tonic in the world at the moment.
I have to avoid alcohol these days owing to health problems, so have been on a similar journey to you. I really recommend Crodino non-alcoholic bitters, which are really great; and also the alcohol-free Martini is surprisingly drinkable too!
While off topic, there are an increasing number of non-alcoholic or low-alcohol beers being produced in Europe – my friends and I have a recommendation WhatsApp group where we take photos and pass on the details of good ones we find! I’m always happy to share those if that’s of interest.
Thanks again for being such a force for good in the world.
Dave
Thanks so much, Dave! That’s very kind of you to say. I don’t know much about bitters, but I’ve heard that term used in reference to a lot of cocktails, so I appreciate the recommendation. For now I’m more interested in cocktails than NA beer, but I’ll let you know if I try to explore them a bit more. There is a hard cider place in St. Louis (Brick River) that recently launched a line of NA ciders that I’m curious to try.