Dry January: here are the recipes for comforting non-alcoholic cocktails

Maybe you want to spend January 2023 without alcohol? If the prospect of making Dry January doesn’t appeal to you, here are some delicious mocktail ideas.

5 non-alcoholic cocktails to quench your thirst during Dry January

Frozen Isfahan

• A handful of frozen raspberries
• Lychee syrup and/or canned lychees
• rose syrup
• Natural or sparkling water

For a large 12 oz glass, simply add 1 to 3 tablespoons of rose syrup, about 5 canned lychees and/or 1 to 3 tablespoons of lychee syrup, and a handful of frozen raspberries. Then fill the glass with still or sparkling water, which the raspberries will cool as they thaw. Mix with a fork and take the opportunity to roughly crush some raspberries, so that they spread their aroma and beautiful color, and voila!

(For an alcoholic version, you can substitute Prosecco for the water.)

Orange blossom lemonade

• 1 organic lemon and/or a lime
• 1 tablespoon orange blossom syrup or orange blossom water
• 1 handful of ice cubes or crushed ice
• Still or sparkling water or iced Earl Gray tea

For a 1-litre jug, squeeze the juice of one lemon and/or lime, depending on how much or dislike you like lemon. If it comes from organic farming, take the opportunity to get some of the zest, as well as a slice or two, which will serve for decoration and taste. Pour the juice into the jug, add a spoonful of orange blossom syrup or orange blossom water, plus a handful of ice cubes, or better yet crushed ice (coarsely beaten ice cubes in a freezer with a rolling pin will do), before topping up with still or sparkling water.

This drink works great with the addition of iced Earl Gray tea (aka black tea with bergamot) if the name “iced tea” sells you more than a “lemonade” dream.

(For an alcoholic version, you can swap some of the water or tea for the gin.)

Jamaican pony

• 1 to 2 tablespoons of ginger syrup or grated ginger root
• Juice of 1 lime and/or lemon
• Still or carbonated water or ginger ale
• A few slices of cucumber

Do you know the Moscow Mule (cocktail made with vodka, ginger ale and lime juice, often served in a copper mug for extra folklore)? I prefer its variant with Caribbean accents which is the Jamaican Mule: rum, ginger ale, lime. Well, I find that it also works very well in the non-alcoholic version, which is not complicated, and which I nickname Jamaican Pony for the joke. Mule, pony, do you have it? Alright, I’m leaving…

For a 1 liter jug, pour 1 to 2 tablespoons of ginger syrup, grate a piece of fresh ginger if you like it very much, plus the juice of 1 lime and/or lemon. Add to this 20 to 50 cl of ginger ale (which is not alcoholic, it’s just the name of ginger ale, but it’s not beer), depending on the size of the bottle you’ve found.

Otherwise, sparkling water is also fine, or even still water if you don’t like bubbles too much. Fill with ice cubes and a little water. For decoration you can also cut a few slices of lemon and/or cucumber. The ultimate in elegance, with a glass carafe, is long slices of cucumber using a mandoline or potato/vegetable peeler.

(For a boozy version, add as much rum as you like to this excellent Jamaican mule base, or even a few drops of candied pepper as a bonus.)

Virgin pistachio mojito

• Juice of 1 lemon and/or 1 lime
• 1 bunch of mint leaves
• Still and/or sparkling water
• 1 to 5 tablespoons of pistachio syrup

Surely you know the mojito (cocktail made with rum, lime and mint), nicknamed Virgin mojito in the non-alcoholic version? If I hate the expression “Virgin” to designate the non-alcoholic variants of drinks, at least it has the advantage of being understandable to most. That’s why here I call this lemonade “Virgin Pistachio Mojito” to be evocative, but in real life I just call it “pistachio lemonade.”

In short, for a 1-litre jug, just squeeze the juice of a yellow lime/lemon (and why not take 1 or 2 slices for garnish), roughly chop a bunch of fresh mint, mix with 1 to 5 tablespoons of pistachio, top up with still or sparkling water and the mocktail is ready! You can swap the water for chilled mint tea if that’s your thing cold tea home feels like more fantasy. The height of elegance is to add a few grilled pistachios as a decoration.

(For a boozy version, add as much rum as you like.)

purple rain

• 1 to 5 tablespoons of violet syrup
• 1 handful of frozen raspberries
• 1 handful of frozen blueberries
• Natural or sparkling water

I have had a passion for violet syrup for years, a taste that is far too underrated. And to try and convert those around me to this adored taste of my palate, I decided to serve it in a carafe with lots of frozen blueberries (blue) and raspberries (red), and to call it purple rain, in reference to the cult song by Prince that I love. It is more elegant, while it takes 2 seconds to dial.

Since it is enough to pour into a 1 liter jug, 1 to 5 tablespoons of violet syrup, 1 handful of frozen raspberries, 1 handful of frozen blueberries and top up with still or sparkling water. Mix with a fork, roughly crushing some raspberries and blueberries so that they spread their flavors and colors, et voilà! The height of elegance is to decorate each glass with a few edible flowers.

(For a boozy version, this purple base works great with Prosecco or gin.)

Front page photo credit: pexels-min-an-1441122