How to Build a Non-Alcoholic Bar Cart (& Win at Hosting)

Part of being a good host is anticipating the needs of your different guests. Sharyn is vegan; Lou is allergic to shellfish; Bill straight up hates beets. The non-drinker, though, is one who is often overlooked. A host stocks up on several kinds of wine, refreshes their stock of whiskey, vodka, and gin, and has another case of beer ready to go in the garage in case the fridge’s stash runs low. But what of the friends who don’t want to partake in the booze? A non-drinker shouldn’t be stuck with water (fizzy, if they’re lucky), or a splash from a forgotten carton of pine-cran-apple juice.

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The answer: soft cocktails. If you haven’t heard this term yet, it’s another name for mocktails, beverage concoctions made without alcohol, often simply an existing cocktail (such as a Bloody Mary) sans booze. The term “mocktail” recalls freshmen mixers at college. Or bright pink, syrupy sweet concoctions in plastic champagne glasses at baby showers. Mocktails have been given a bad name. Soft cocktail, on the other hand, is a moniker free of associations. And it sounds right classy, eh?

Soft cocktails can be just as much a place to experiment as a regular ol’ cocktail—but because high-end, imaginative soft cocktails are still gaining traction in the bar world, the task of mixing up your own can seem confusing. When we discovered Seedlip, a botanical-laced non-alcoholic spirit that’s making us entirely rethink our evening Manhattan, the possibilities of booze-free home bartending (and drinking) all of a sudden became clear.

Seedlip is the brainchild of Ben Branson. Armed with a book full of formulas for medical tinctures dating back to 1651, he began experimenting with a distillation process that would entirely evaporate any trace of alcohol, infusing the liquid with fresh herbs, vegetables, and spices from his family’s farm.

Both of Seedlip’s varieties, Garden 108 and Spice 94, only need to be mixed with club soda to make a vivid, complex cocktail for which your guests will eschew boozier options. There’s a lot more that it can do, too—an endlessly adaptable, pair-able, and surprising ingredient that will become as much a part of your bar cart as a bottle of vodka.

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The team at Seedlip gave us four of their tried-and-true cocktail recipes—we tried them, too. And Seedlip was, in fact, true to their word. Mix one of these up for your next cocktail party:

Inspired by Seedlip, we put together a wishlist of ingredients for the non-alcoholic bar cart of our dreams—with plenty of fresh juices, herbs, spices, and more to keep handy in the fridge or pantry. While you offer a guest the option of an old fashioned or a gimlet, why not offer them a frothy mix of orange juice, cream, and lime juice? Or a black iced tea with ginger simple syrup and club soda? Who knows, you might just be ditching your signature martini.

These ingredients are just a starting point and it’s up to you how you want to combine them, and with what proportions. The fun is in the experimenting! In general, the base ingredients will make up the majority of the cocktail, with the sweet, puckery, and creamy ingredients added with more moderation.

For the base:

• Seedlip Garden Sour 108
• Seedlip Spice 94
• All the seltzer
• Teas: black, green, earl grey
• Juices: Orange, beet, pomegranate
• Ginger ale or ginger beer
• Coconut water
• Apple cider
• Iced coffee

For creaminess or frothiness:

• Heavy cream
• Coconut milk/cream: good for riffs on milk-based cocktails
• Egg whites

For sweetness:

• Simple syrups: “Simple” as the pros call it, is your secret weapon. You can turn pretty much any fruit or herb into an infused sugar syrup. It’s easy! Check out our guide here.
• Fruit
• Agave
• Grenadine
• Maple syrup
• Elderflower cordial

For herbiness or spice:

• Cinnamon
• Cloves
• Cardamom
• Star anise
• Fresh ginger
• Fresh fennel fronds
• Fresh basil

For pucker:

• Cider vinegar
• Citrus: lemons, limes, grapefruit, oranges
• Frozen limeade or lemonade
• Drinking vinegars
• Shrubs (a.k.a drinking vinegars)
• Kombucha
  

Some combos to get your wheels turning:

• Soda + ginger simple syrup + lime juice
• Orange juice + heavy cream + simple syrup
• Coffee + tonic + basil simple syrup
• Apple cider + apple cider vinegar + cinnamon stick + club soda
• Coconut milk + limeade + lime simple syrup
• Beet juice + club soda + fennel fronds + green apple shrub

Do you make non-alcoholic cocktails? Any fun combinations you’ve come up with? Tell us!