January is nearing an end, and with it closes the monthlong period of sobriety observed by many of us. This year, according to a CivicScience survey, as many as 41% of American drinkers were “somewhat to very likely” to participate in the annual ritual that’s come to be known as dry January. Among young people, abstinence is particularly cool: That same survey found the highest interest in dry January (55%) among 21- to 24-year-olds.
In response to the public’s consistently strong interest in sobriety, the world — or at least, the Bay Area — has become much friendlier to non-drinkers.
Bottle shops dedicated to nonalcoholic drinks are popping up all over the region, including Boisson and Ocean Beach Cafe in San Francisco and Faux Real in Los Gatos. Just about every restaurant I visit lately, it seems, has at least a couple of thoughtful mocktails on the menu. This is almost certainly a positive development for many people, though if you want the beleaguered wine industry’s spin on it, we’ve entered a period of “neo-Prohibitionism,” as a recent industry analysis put it.
Some of the booze-free drinks available these days are great. I had an especially memorable cucumber number at the Rendez-Vous in Oakland. Yet one major problem persists: Nonalcoholic products are, for the most part, still not reliably good.
“The two things people always ask about are nonalcoholic red wine and whiskey,” said Joshua James, who owns the two-year-old Ocean Beach Cafe, which serves nonalcoholic cocktails in addition to selling bottles. Unfortunately, though, “nonalcoholic whiskey is not really in a place of sipping,” James said. It’s better when mixed into a cocktail.
Meanwhile, “you can almost give up on red wine,” he continued. “Nonalcoholic red wine specifically is extremely difficult to make.” White, sparkling and rosé nonalcoholic wine is a much safer bet.
One of the most ubiquitous brands in this space Lyre’s, of Australia, makes a few dozen different nonalcoholic spirits, including substitutions for London-style gin, American single-malt whiskey and Italian bitter aperitivo liqueur. Most of them, according to James, are bad. (I haven’t tasted the full lineup, but based on the few I’ve tried, I’m inclined to agree.) He likes two or three Lyre’s products, maybe. It’s a shame — because it’s such a visible, accessible product line, and so it may turn many people off from the whole category.
The benefit of visiting one of these dedicated n/a shops is being able to ask for a recommendation. At Ocean Beach Cafe, James stocks some excellent drinks that are under the radar, like Cut Above, a zero-proof mezcal. On the nose, it’s a dead ringer for real mezcal, with that alluringly herbal-smoky aroma. Smelling it in a glass, I was amazed. Sipped neat, it doesn’t quite taste like mezcal, at least for me. But when James fashions it into his Good Buzz Daisy cocktail ($16), it sings. I didn’t miss the booze.
Still, many of the most satisfying nonalcoholic drinks aren’t trying so hard to imitate the taste of a particular kind of alcohol. I highly recommend the cans from Ghia, which bills itself as an aperitif brand but which actually doesn’t really taste like any recognizable alcoholic aperitif at all. The canned Ghia Ginger and Ghia Soda are ideal combinations of bitter, bubbly and botanical.
James agreed that the future of this space lies in creating nonalcoholic drinks that are sui generis, not sorry imitations of classic cocktails. Accordingly, he dislikes the term “mocktail.” “We’re not mocking anything,” he said. Rather than reproducing a Manhattan, he likes making original-tasting nonalcoholic cocktails.
Maybe, to make a delectable nonalcoholic cocktail, you don’t need to buy a fancy product at all. Ingredients like that Cut Above mezcal replacement are cool. But it’s equally possible to create a complex, tasty concoction without buying bottles that promise to imitate the flavors of gin or Campari or sparkling wine.
Take that cucumber drink I had at the Rendez-Vous. It combines English cucumber juice with lime juice, simple syrup and club soda — pretty simple. But it tasted so bright and fresh and verdant, with such a distinctive pop of flavor and acidity, that I could hardly stop sipping it.
Johnelle Mancha and Brian Hill, who own the Rendez-Vous, were kind enough to share the recipe with us. I’ve reproduced it below; it’s very doable for a home bartender. If you don’t have a juicer, you can make cucumber juice in a blender.
The Rendez-Vous’ nonalcoholic cucumber cocktail
1 ½ ounces club soda
2 ounces fresh-squeezed English cucumber juice
1 ounce lime juice
½ ounce simple syrup
Cucumber wheel, for garnish
Instructions: Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass filled with ice. Stir. Strain into a chilled coupe glass (preferably something vintage) and garnish with a cucumber wheel.
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January 26, 2023 at 07:03PM
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This is the secret to finding a tasty nonalcoholic drink - San Francisco Chronicle
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