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The drink’s creator Ben Branson wanted to
solve an issue that all non-drinkers face: when
eating or drinking out your drink just doesn’t
compare to the alcoholic version. He felt that it
was just ‘half a drink’ and after researching
distillation and old herbal remedies he came up
with the idea and Seedlip was born. It’s
blended and bottled in England and bartenders
can now offer something they weren’t able to
before – a proper non-alcoholic cocktail like no
other.
Lately, you have the Mocktails! You’ll find ever
more varieties in more and more places, not to
mention they’re cheap! Most bars, restaurants
and pubs now offer a mocktail menu. They can
also be a healthy part of your diet depending
on what kind you ask for. Mocktails are fun and
easy to make and perfect for parties.
We've established that alcohol tastes tingly,
drying, bitter, and sweet.
To recreate these effects in a non-alcoholic
drink, we simply need to add ingredients that
produce the same effect. The best analog for
alcohol's burn comes from spicy ingredients
such as ginger or chilies. Although the
compounds involved are different, both stimulate
the same nerve that alcohol affects.
Astringency is harder to replicate. At home, the
best option is oversteeped black tea, which
contain naturally-occurring tannins that replicate
the astringency of alcohol. Oversteeped tea is
also one of the few readily-available ingredients
I've tried that can add a respectable amount of
bitterness to a drink. Most cocktail bitters use
herbs like cinchona or gentian that are harder to
come by. To make oversteeped tea, use twice
as many teabags as you would normally use and
simmer the tea for 10 minutes.
“Why am I drinking alcohol, if things
taste this good without it?”
Then, you may have concluded that you should
be brewing up a batch of bitter, spicy, slightly
sweet tea the next time you serve as designated
driver. True.
But, there's no need to do that. That's because
the true allure of alcohol isn't really derived from
its own taste characteristics, but rather how it
interacts with other compounds to create
otherwise unattainable flavors.Think of
bitterness, astringency, and spice as creative
ways to accent an already tasty mocktail, to add
lend the slight feeling that you might be sipping
an actual cocktail
Mocktails can be just as creative, just as
interesting as regular cocktails.
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