I want to give them a mocktail that truly lives up to the name, and for that, I’m turning to my friend Maggie Hoffman’s new book Batch Cocktails and her recipe for Pomegranate-Citrus Sans-Gria.
How to Make a Good Mocktail
While Maggie’s new book mostly concentrates on big batch cocktails made with alcohol—check out the recipe for Side Porch Sangria that I’m also sharing—she devotes an entire chapter to alcohol-free refreshments.
I asked her what makes a good mocktail, and here’s what Maggie had to say:
I really believe that non-alcoholic drinks are on the rise, and there’s no reason they shouldn’t get better and better. I was super strict about the recipes I included in the nonalcoholic chapter of Batch Cocktails, because I think anyone who is not drinking for whatever reason should still have a super delicious, super balanced drink. It shouldn’t be overly sweet or boring.
There are a few tricks that can make these sorts of drinks work. One is the tannin from tea, which gives some of the same sensation as, say, the tannin in red wine. Another is adding a little heat, from cayenne, for example. Not enough to actually get spicy, but just enough to mimic the heat of alcohol. There’s also an awesome non-alcoholic shandy in the book, the Kumquat Shandy, which has a nice bitterness from non-alcoholic beer, plus kumquats!
Tricks for Non-Alcoholic Sangria
This non-alcoholic sans-gria has all of those elements that Maggie mentions above. It uses chai and English breakfast tea to provide some spice and soft tannins. It also uses cayenne for a bit of heat—but not too much. The pomegranate juice works as the base for the sangria, a stand-in for the red wine in traditional sangria. To this, Maggie has you add grapefruit juice, orange juice, lemon juice, and fresh berries. The sum of all these parts is an alcohol-free sangria that any of us would be happy sipping at a party!
More Great Alcohol-Free Drinks!
Ginger Switchel Agua de Jamaica (Hibiscus Iced Tea) Rosemary Lemon Rhubarb Spritzer Cucumber Mint “Shrub” Soda Lavender Lemonade
Reprinted with permission from Batch Cocktails: Make-Ahead Pitcher Drinks for Every Occasion by Maggie Hoffman, copyright © 2019. Published by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House. Let steep for 40 minutes, then discard tea bags. If not serving immediately, cover and refrigerate. Prepare grapefruit, orange, and lemon juices, and pour into pitcher mix, along with pomegranate juice and cayenne, and stir to mix. Add lemon wheels and remaining 4 orange wheels, plus any additional fruit, and stir gently. If not serving immediately, seal well, covering with plastic wrap if needed, and refrigerate. (I do find that this improves after an hour or two in the fridge, but not much more.)
