Food & Drink
10 Mocktails to Try Before Dry January Ends
From virgin margaritas to nonalcoholic cobblers, these mocktails will bring joy to the rest of the sober month
January 27, 2021
Is it just us or is Dry January sticking around like red wine on chapped lips? It’s a long time to go without alcohol if you’re under stay-at-home orders, so we salute you if you’ve made it this far. To help you get through the last few days, we rounded up a list of 10 amazing mocktails so good that you won’t even miss the booze. Make these mocktail recipes tonight with the help of Gopuff ingredients, delivered to you in just 30 minutes.
Margarita Mocktail
Source: A Couple Cooks
Total time: 5 minutes
The best mocktails find a way to replace the flavor that’s lost when you leave out the alcohol. This margarita mocktail does just that by using a teeny amount of pickle juice to add a much-needed sour note. The result is a complexity normally reserved for classic cocktails and high school relationships.
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Fresh lime juice
Fresh lemon juice
Pickle juice (optional but recommended)
Salt rim and lime wheel garnish (optional)
Mojito Mocktail
Source: Art from My Table
Total time: 3 minutes
Most virgin renditions of popular cocktails need a little reimagining to prevent them from falling flat. Mojito mocktails are not one of those drinks. To create a faux-jito, all you need to do is leave out the rum, and you’re left with a drink that’s a good balance of sour, sweet and herbal notes. Sure, it’s less complex than a traditional mojito, but it’s easy and will remind you of summer without requiring you to crank the heat past a responsible 68 degrees.
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Fresh lime juice
Fresh mint
Non-Alcoholic Sparkling Apple Cranberry Mimosa
Source: Martinelli’s
Total time: 1 minute
Looking for easy mocktails? This alcohol-free mimosa blends Martinelli’s sparkling apple cranberry cider with orange juice and a sprinkle of cinnamon. It’s the perfect brunch mocktail, especially because it comes together in about 60 seconds, leaving you plenty of time to work on your pancake-batter art.
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Orange peel for garnish (optional)
Earl Grey Cobbler Mocktail
Source: Moody Mixologist
Prep time: 30 minutes, unless you start with already chilled Earl Grey tea
Total time: 35 minutes
This Earl Grey cobbler mocktail mimics an original sherry cobbler recipe that appeared in The Bartender’s Guide in 1862. That recipe called for just 3 ingredients: sherry, sugar and orange slices. This recipe swaps out sherry for Earl Grey tea, which also features citrus and floral flavors. Tea is an especially good base to use in mocktail drinks because it can add that hint of bitterness present in all great cocktails and archenemies.
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Orange slices
Appletini Mocktail
Source: The Spruce Eats
Total time: 3 minutes
Despite having zero alcohol, this appletini mocktail somehow feels like the grown-up version of an appletini. That’s most likely due to the lack of green apple schnapps, a favorite of college kids everywhere. But it’s also a complex drink that relies on fresh lemon juice to temper the sweetness of the apple juice and simple syrup.
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Fresh lemon juice
Sugar rim and apple slice garnish
Orchard Mai Thai Mocktail
Source: Food & Wine
Total time: 5 minutes
Try this spin on a spin of the classic Mai Tai. An Orchard Mai Tai replaces rum with apple brandy to create a cold-weather tiki drink. This Orchard Mai Tai mocktail replaces the apple brandy with apple cider, apple cider vinegar and ginger syrup, warming your insides sans alcohol or pictures of mama gorillas with their baby kitties.
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Ginger syrup
Fresh lemon juice
Orgeat (almond-flavored syrup)
Apple slices for garnish (optional)
Cucumber, Lime & Elderflower Cooler
Source: Tesco
Total time: 15 minutes
Fans of St-Germain elderflower liqueur will adore this cooler. It mixes a virgin elderflower cordial with mint, cucumbers and lime to create a drink that’s more refreshing than a midday nap while you work from home (or so we’ve heard).
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Elderflower cordial
Cucumbers
Fresh limes
Fresh mint
Non-Alcoholic Irish Coffee
Source: 31 Daily
Total time: 15 minutes
Isn’t a non-alcoholic Irish coffee just coffee? No! It’s coffee with a lot of complex flavors added to recreate a taste similar to whiskey. This Irish coffee mocktail recipe calls for a mix of citrus juices, brown sugar, vanilla extract and heavy cream. The result is a fun, slightly fruity coffee drink that’s made even more fun with the addition of a cocoa powder shamrock.
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Orange juice
Lemon juice
Heavy cream
Cocoa powder for garnish (optional)
Egg Cream Dessert Mocktail
Source: The Spruce Eats
Total time: 2 minutes
Despite its name, this classic New York drink contains neither egg nor cream. Instead, it’s made of a delicious combination of chocolate milk and seltzer, and it can be re-created at home in a few minutes. The key is using a glass that’s been pre-chilled in the freezer so your egg cream lasts longer—though there’s a good chance you’ll drink it all immediately.
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Cinderella Mocktail
Source: Savor the Flavor
Total time: 10 minutes
The Cinderella, a delightfully fruity concoction offset with a few dashes of bitters, is the perfect mocktail to drink on the last day of Dry January. Why? It has the effortless ability to convert into a cocktail at midnight with the addition of tequila.
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Pineapple juice
Freshly squeezed orange juice
Freshly squeezed lemon juice
Angostura bitters
Orange slice and maraschino cherry garnishes (optional)
Want a few more mocktail ideas? Check out the non-alcoholic drinks section in our Thanksgiving drinks article for recipes for things like virgin cranberry-basil sangria and a club soda pumpkin shrub.
Do you have the Gopuff app yet? Download it from the Apple Store or Google Play to make ordering even easier.
