Category: non-alcoholic

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Dry Recipe: Sakura Sparkler

As foretold in my March cocktail events round-up, cherry blossom season is upon us.  This year, celebrate not merely by getting outside to see them, but by adding them to your drinks.  I’ve already offered you a recipe that uses an edible flower as garnish in the Blood Orange Daiquiri.  And cherry blossoms (or sakura) are also edible and thus fair garnish game.  You can even find cherry blossom comestibles on Amazon if you don’t have a tree of your own at hand.  We’ll get to that, but first let me introduce you to what we will be making:  a refreshing, non-alcoholic, sparkling beverage called the Sakura Sparkler:

Sakura Sparkler

Like my previous non-alcoholic cocktails (see the Mexican Candy Soda and the Actually Dry Martini), this one is made with Seedlip’s Garden 108.

The cherry-blossom component comes in two parts.  First, the drink itself includes a Sakura Cherry Blossom Honey Syrup, which provides a sweet floral flavor that goes well with the Garden 108 and is balanced against freshly squeezed lemon juice.

Second, I took some dried cherry blossoms and made ice cubes out of them.  Dried cherry blossoms are available on Amazon; so are large ice cube trays.  Making cherry-blossom ice cubes is simple.  If you’re working with the dried variety, rinse them thoroughly to remove the salt.  (If you’ve got fresh cherry blossoms, you probably still want to wash them.)  Next, fill the tray with water and drop a couple cherry blossoms in each cube.  If you’re working with dried cherry blossoms, you might want to gently unfold them in the water, and I pushed mine toward the bottom of the tray so they would be more visible from the surface of the ice when frozen.  Finally, place them in the freezer and allow to freeze.

Mine came out looking like this:

Cherry Blossom Cubes

Put these all together and you have a refreshing, alcohol-free drink perfect for welcoming spring.  Here is the recipe:

Sakura Sparkler recipe
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Sakura Sparkler

Enjoy the Sakura Sparkler, a Seedlip-based cocktail perfect for spring, featuring cherry-blossom honey syrup and cherry-blossom ice cubes.
Prep Time10 minutes
Total Time10 minutes
Course: Drinks
Cuisine: Mocktail
Servings: 1 cocktail
Calories: 70kcal
Author: Geoffrey Wyatt

Ingredients

Cocktail

  • 1 1/2 oz. Seedlip Garden 108
  • 3/4 oz. Sakura Cherry Blossom Honey Syrup
  • 3/4 oz. Freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • soda water

Ice cubes

  • cherry blossoms

Instructions

Ice cubes

  • In advance of making the drink, fill large ice cube tray with water.  Add 1 to 3 cherry blossoms per cube.  If working with dried cherry blossoms, be sure to rinse the salt off the flowers before adding.  Try to orient the flowers in the cube so they will appear near the surface when the ice freezes.  Leave in the freezer until completely frozen.

Cocktail

  • Combine the Seedlip, syrup and lemon juice in a shaking tin with ice.  Shake vigorously and strain into rocks glass.
  • Add cherry-blossom ice cube.
  • Top with soda water and stir gently to combine with the other ingredients.

Enjoy!

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Dry Recipe: Mexican Candy Soda

I recently posted my first recipe for dry January – the Actually Dry Martini.  With its botanical and vegetable flavors, the Actually Dry Martini might serve as a reasonable mocktail alternative for martini drinkers.  But what about everyone else?  Before January ends I wanted to get one more non-alcoholic recipe up so we have a broader spectrum of tastes covered.  In this post, I present to you the Mexican Candy Soda:

Mexican Candy Soda

For this drink we will once again be making use of the Garden 108 non-alcoholic spirit by Seedlip.  As noted in the Actually Dry Martini post, Garden 108 features flavors of “leaf,” “herb,” and “pod.”  In that post, I used Garden 108 as a reasonable non-alcoholic proxy for gin.  (To temper expectations, I also cautioned that Garden 108 is not really gin.  But that fact is less significant here, where other flavors make the drink less dependent on Garden 108.)

We will also be using a shrub.  In the past, I’ve recommended shrubs from D.C.’s own Shrub District.  (See my gift guide and recipe for the Autumn Breeze.)  For this recipe I tried out one of Calvit’s Shrubs, the Tomatillo-Tamarind-Hibiscus drinking shrub.

The final flavor comes from freshly squeezed grapefruit juice.  I used ruby red grapefruits for the color of the juice and peel.  But the particular variety is not as important as the fact that you use fresh ingredients.  (You’ll note I always include “freshly squeezed” to describe fruit juice used in my recipes.  Fresh juice is always important in cocktails, but all the more so in mocktails, where there is no alcohol to hide behind.)  You’ll also need soda water to top off the drink.

These flavors combine beautifully for a light and refreshing drink that makes for a perfect pre-dinner mocktail before a spicy meal.  In fact, that’s partly how I decided on the name here.  I enjoyed one of these mocktails prior to a spicy chorizo stew dinner.  And in researching for inspiration for the name, I found that tamarind is popular flavor in Mexican candy.  That description seemed to fit, and I liked the name, so the Mexican Candy Soda was christened.

Here’s how to make it at home:

Mexican Candy Soda recipe
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Mexican Candy Soda

If you're in the mood for something light and refreshing and alcohol-free, try the Mexican Candy Soda, made with Seedlip's Garden 108, a tomatillo-tamarind-hibiscus drinking shrub from Calvit's Shrubs, fresh grapefruit juice and soda water.
Prep Time5 minutes
Total Time5 minutes
Course: Drinks
Cuisine: Mocktail
Servings: 1 cocktail
Calories: 35kcal
Author: Geoffrey Wyatt

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 oz. Seedlip Garden 108
  • 3/4 oz. Calvit's Tomatillo-Tamarind-Hibiscus Drinking Shrub
  • 3/4 oz. freshly squeezed grapefruit juice
  • grapefruit peel

Instructions

  • Fill a highball glass with ice.
  • Combine the Garden 108, shrub, and juice in a shaking tin with ice and shake vigorously.  
  • Strain mixed ingredients into the glass and top off with soda water.
  • Garnish with grapefruit peel and add a metal or paper straw.

Note that if you are not observing dry January, I tried a version of this with gin instead of Seedlip, which was quite good.  Tequila or mezcal should also substitute nicely.   However you decide to make it, I hope you enjoy!

This article’s links to Amazon are affiliate links, meaning the blog may earn a commission from resulting sales.

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Dry Recipe: The Actually Dry Martini

I am back with one more martini recipe!  This post will wrap up a string of martini posts that began with my review of the martini service at Requin.  In that post, I promised you a few recipes for making martinis at home.  First I offered my version of the classic martini recipe.  Then I gave you my briny, spicy variation, the Hot and Dirty Martini.  Here I offer you a third and (for now) final variation – fit for dry January – the non-alcoholic Actually Dry Martini:

Actually Dry Martini

As pictured here, this drink is powered by Seedlip Garden 108.  Seedlip describes its products as the “world’s first distilled non-alcoholic spirits.”  The Garden 108 is one of these.  It features flavors of “leaf,” “herb,” and “pod.”  (There’s also another variety – the Spice 94 – described as offering “wood,” “spice,” and “citrus” flavors.)

With its incorporation of gin-like botanicals, Garden 108 struck me as a plausible ingredient for an alcohol-free stand-in for the martini.  Some might object at this point that a non-alcoholic martini is a contradiction in terms, or that using soft ingredients defeats the drink’s purpose.  But I disagree.  For me, the martini’s allure is in its botanical and vegetable flavors, which are uncommon in the cocktail kingdom.

That said, I must manage expectations.  Garden 108 is not gin.  So if you are hoping for an alcohol-free martini that tastes just like the real thing, this recipe is not for you.  But I do think Garden 108’s unique flavors work in a drink with martini-like proportions and profile.  The final product mixes notes of fresh cucumber, earthy brine, and light citrus.  It’s a way to enjoy a month off from drinking without giving up the pleasing complexity of a good cocktail.  And if you’re observing dry January, this recipe gives you excuse to stop your martini glasses from collecting dust.

To make this drink, you’ll need Garden 108 (obviously – available from Amazon and the link above).  You’ll also need Gordy’s Fine Brine, discussed in the recipe post for the Hot & Dirty Martini.  And you’ll need olives and some freshly squeezed lemon juice.  Here’s the recipe:

Actually Dry Martini recipe
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Actually Dry Martini

Looking for a mocktail replacement for the martini?  Try this Actually Dry Martini recipe, featuring Garden 108 by Seedlip.
Prep Time5 minutes
Total Time5 minutes
Course: Drinks
Cuisine: Mocktail
Servings: 1 cocktail
Calories: 5kcal
Author: Geoffrey Wyatt

Ingredients

  • 2 1/2 oz. Seedlip Garden 108
  • 1/2 oz. Gordy's Fine Brine
  • 1 splash freshly squeezed lemon juice

Instructions

  • Place two olives in a martini glass.
  • Combine the Garden 108, Gordy's Fine Brine, and lemon juice in a mixing glass with ice and stir.
  • Strain into the martini glass.

Enjoy!