The Master of Mocktails: Misconceptions and mocktologists

Posted on 4 July, 2017

For Australians, and Canberrans in particular, Dry July comes at a difficult time.

Difficult, because if it’s a big deal for you to give up alcohol for a month, you probably enjoy a warming glass of wine on a winter’s evening. You might also be one of those connoisseurs who would rather stick pins in their eyes than order a sickly sweet mocktail at a bar, let alone buy ingredients to make them at home yourself. But step away from the soda water, we have a better solution. Andrew Atwell is a master of mocktails that won’t make you want to turn to drink, and they’re not your regular strawberries-and-passionfruit-with-lemonade combo either.

“Mocktails came naturally to me, as my partner and I are credited for pioneering health-inspired cocktails,” Andrew explains. “We were making a kale-ginger margarita in 2008 in NYC that just blew up and started off the green drinks trend as far as cocktails are concerned.”

Andrew (left) with Aadam Spencer at the launch of Dry July. Image via twitter.com/adambspencer

It’s the 10th anniversary of Dry July this year, the challenge that sees people all over the world kicking the booze for a month to raise money for cancer patients. But for those heros who take up the challenge, it doesn’t have to be a month in purgatory. In fact, Andrew says that his journey towards becoming a master ‘mocktologist’ was inspired by his goal to create mocktails that everyone would enjoy – and that are actually good for you too.

“It was only natural to take my mixology background and apply it to making virgin-drinks (mocktails) with the goal of creating interesting takes on drinks and unique flavor combinations, all the while preserving the integrity of the concept which is to offer healthy options that are delicious in a landscape that’s flooded with so many unhealthy traps,” he says.

Of course, the misconception about mocktails is that it’s going to be less enjoyable than your preferred cocktail, but Andrew has mastered the art of giving his mocktails as much depth and flavour as their alcoholic counterparts.

“I could make you an amazing version of our kale-ginger margarita, without the booze,” Andrew says. “I could make it taste delicious, unique, layered with a fair amount of depth, and super refreshing.” Of course, there’s no way to emulate the psychological effects of alcohol, but Andrew is sure he can, at the very least, please your palate.

Keeping a mocktail from being too sweet is tricky. Andrew’s solution (chemistry pun, for those keeping score), is bitters.

“The best way to balance mocktails and add an interesting depth of flavour is the use of bitters,” he explains. “These clever tinctures keep a drink from being dull and back way off any potential for it to be overly sweet.”

The range of flavoured bitters is growing, giving the home mocktail-maker an even greater range of flavour profiles to play with. So what’s Andrew’s favourite mocktail – one that we could potentially make ourselves?

“My favourite mocktail is a riff on a Mexican-beer cocktail that involves beer, lime juice, hot sauce, tomato or salsa verde and chili-salt,” he explains. “You can have lots of fun with this concept and layer in a musky ocean flavour with the addition of clam-juice or a lot of people like to add maji-sauce or Worcestershire sauce for the deep/meaty umami pop that we all (not always knowingly) love. The mocktail riff I’ve done on this recipe is to juice fresh red bell peppers, they’re a bit sweeter and even fruitier than their green and yellow counterparts.”

“Then I’ll make my own chipotle syrup which is made by buzzing soaked and seared chipotles into agave and adding in a bit of water to make the syrup slightly thinner. I do 3/4 ounce of chip syrup, then balance that with 3/4 ounce of fresh lemon juice for a bright acidic pop, and then 3 ounces of fresh red pepper juice, and 3-4 dashes of the Australian Bitters grapefruit bitters to add in some complex citrus, some of that pith/peel bitterness that will just perfectly align the other flavors of the drink.”

“Shake that over some quality Kold-Draft 1 by 1 in ice in a cocktail shaker, then strain over new ice, preferably large format, so the drink will maintain it’s integrity for quite some time. Garnish with a big sprig of mint so that with each sip you get some refreshing minty-aromatics.  This drink I find works well before dinner, with its savoury qualities can even take the place of the appetiser round in a meal. Sit back, kick your feet up, and enjoy.”

You heard the man, folks!