Liz Scott Sober Cooking
All About Mocktails: Drinks for Sober Celebrations
There was a time when nondrinkers had very few choices when it came to specialty drinks. Shirley Temples and Virgin Marys were the typical options – otherwise a club soda or cola was the usual request for kids and abstaining adults alike.
But times have certainly changed! Bartender extraordinaire Tony Abou-Ganim of Las Vegas designed a special “mocktail” for Paris Hilton’s birthday party, and alcohol-free pomegranate spritzers were served on an episode of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.
With more and more folks abstaining from the hard stuff, hosts need to offer mocktails as well as soft drinks when they entertain if they hope to throw a memorable party for their alcohol-shunning guests.
So, what makes a great mocktail? Simply leaving out the alcohol is not the answer.
For people who are newly sober, even if they never ordered a classic cocktail in their lives, the whole idea of imitation cocktails might feel more than a little discomforting. The association can be far too dangerous a prospect while they’re in the throes of early recovery. For them, even looking at someone else drinking a mocktail could spark some neurochemical recognition and induce a craving for the real thing, so it’s important to know your guests and try to help them feel as unthreatened as possible.
After a good period of abstinence, however, these types of triggers inevitably subside.
Two good books have been published with sobriety in mind.
Liz Scott In The Sober Kitchen
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