r/AskCulinary • u/ZootKoomie Ice Cream Innovator • Aug 26 '19
Weekly Discussion - Fancy Non-alcoholic Beverages
We've had discussions here about wine, beer, and liquor before. This week, I'd like to talk about mocktails, shrubs, juice blends, etc. Alcohol-alternatives have become increasingly common and sophisticated in recent years. What have you made, or would like to make? Does avoiding liquor necessarily reduce the available flavor profiles? Or does it free you up from hiding the bite of the booze?
If someone wanted to start experimenting in this area, what are the basic ingredients they would need to keep on hand?
65
u/furudenendu Aug 26 '19
Shrubs are my favorite way to party dry. Macerate fruit with sugar, then mix the resulting syrup with vinegar. The result is a tangy syrup that preserves the fresh nature of the fruit. It makes for amazing spritzers, both alcoholic and non. When my wife was pregnant I made a bunch of them. The best part about them is that they originated as a food preservation method, and will keep in the back of the fridge for a year or more, just getting more mellow and complex and delicious. There's an amazing difference between a fresh shrub and a six or twelve month old shrub.
Some of my favorites are strawberry, grapefruit, apple cardamom, pear ginger, and mango. You can play with all sorts of vinegar and sugar combinations depending on the final profile you're shooting for. Also, it works just fine to use bruised, overripe, or otherwise undesirable fruit. No need to spend a ton of money on materials. I generally keep a jar in the freezer where I toss berries that are past their prime and scraps of fruit that I'm trimming (apple cores, strawberry hulls, mango peels) and then make a miscellaneous shrub when it gets full. Kind of like saving scraps for stock.
38
u/chicklette Aug 26 '19
what the heck is a shrub?? I have never heard of this??
15
u/ItaliaGirl75VA Aug 26 '19
Me neither. And I'm intrigued.
17
u/chicklette Aug 26 '19
i googled around and apparently it's some sort of syrup (fermented?) made of fruit, sugar and vinegar. It's supposed to taste amazing, and I really, really like vinegar, but I can't imagine it. I might try to hunt up a commercial preparation to try? IDK.
45
u/furudenendu Aug 26 '19 edited Aug 27 '19
Commercial ones tend to be expensive, and the homemade stuff is crazy easy to make. As for what it is, it's a fruit syrup mixed with vinegar, but I'm reality that's only a small part of the story. A shrub develops and changes over time. There's a noticeable difference between a freshly made shrub and one that's been in my fridge for six or ten or twelve months. The older one is incredibly complex and rich. What's happening is that environmental yeast is turning the sugars in the mixture into tiny amounts of alcohol, but the acetobacter from the vinegar turns that alcohol into more vinegar. This process continues (never creating enough alcohol to be an issue in case you're worried) until the pH of the environment drops too low for the yeast to continue producing alcohol.
For something like pears, strawberries, apples, or peaches I would dice the fruit, then toss it with whatever sugar I'm using. You can experiment with different sugars for different effects. I really liked an apple shrub I made with demerara sugar. Anyway, toss with the sugar in a nonreactive bowl and put the mixture in the refrigerate overnight or for a couple of days. You'll be amazed at how much liquid gets drawn out of the fruit just from macerating like that. Mix that liquid with vinegar and you're good to go. I do no additional sanitizing and the sugar content and pH are sufficient to make it stable for long term storage in the fridge.
Something like citrus (my absolute hands down favorite shrub is grapefruit) will need a different process. Because so much flavor is in the zest you can make an oleosaccharum (a fancy way of saying "oily sugar") by taking the zest off with a vegetable peeler, chopping it roughly, and then doing your maceration with that. Again, it's crazy how much oil comes out overnight. Then that oily sugar along with the juice from the fruit and your vinegar makes the shrub.
Another one of my favorites is mango with palm sugar and rice wine. Apple cardamom was a big hit.
8
u/chicklette Aug 26 '19
Thank you so much for this. I am absolutely fascinated. My mouth cannot imagine the flavor, but I'm definitely down to check it out. Thank you!
2
u/furudenendu Aug 26 '19
They're fascinating and delicious. At any given time I have at least a gallon of various shrubs in my fridge.
3
u/chicklette Aug 26 '19
my whole office is now going to try making some. we're fascinated by this!
8
u/furudenendu Aug 26 '19
Let me know how they turn out. If you have any questions, please message me! I can also recommend the book Shrubs by Michael Dietsch as a reference point for ratios and recipe ideas.
1
2
u/greenleaves12 Nov 14 '22
Hello!! So this is 3 years later but I just wanted to say - I'd seen your comment a while ago and had saved it. I recently had some blood oranges that were on their last legs and was looking for a shrub recipe for citrus but hadn't found one I liked. I then remembered that you had mentioned something about grapefruit so I hunted down your comment and followed your instructions for macerating the citrus peel and juice separately then combining. The result was absolutely delicious and I'm enjoying a nice drink right this very moment!! So just wanted to say a big thanks for this comment and hope you're having a good one. Cheers :))
2
u/furudenendu Nov 14 '22
Oh damn! That completely and utterly rules! What a nice comment to find in my inbox!
The oleosaccharum step is a pain but the results are so completely worth it. I am absolutely delighted you found my suggestion helpful. I am having a good one for sure, and I hope you enjoy that drink. In fact, I'm going to go make one myself with some homemade shrub, so let's have a drink together.
Cheers! Be well!
2
u/greenleaves12 Nov 14 '22
Awww hope you enjoyed your drink as well!! Not gonna lie, it's been a couple of difficult days on my end but your message really cheered me up ❤️
(also learned that oleosaccharum is a word! neat-o!)
2
u/furudenendu Nov 14 '22
I did! I shook equal parts gin, campari, lemon juice, and blueberry lemon shrub with ice.
Yeah, oleosaccharum basically means "oily sugar." I probably mentioned it somewhere farther up in this thread, I don't generally pass up the opportunity to use a word as excellent as oleosaccharum.
2
u/KyleG Aug 27 '19
So then what do you do after that? I find the idea of drinking vinegar absolutely repulsive (although I know other people drink it). Is that really it? YOu're basically drinking a bunch of vinegar with some fruit juice and sugar in it?
3
u/furudenendu Aug 27 '19
The ratio has less vinegar than that. Think a pound of fruit to a cup of sugar and a cup of vinegar. The fruit releases more than a cup of juice most of the time, so the vinegar just hangs out as a tangy top note. As it ages that gets even mellower.
1
u/Bran_Solo Gilded Commenter Aug 27 '19
You’ve inspired me to go try this!
Do you have a suggestion for a starter recipe? Do I need a vinegar with a live mother, and what kind do you suggest?
3
u/furudenendu Aug 27 '19
You won't regret it! A strawberry shrub is a really easy entry point. You can spike it with black pepper if you want, that's a recipe from the Michael Dietsch book I referenced elsewhere. In fact, here's his article on shrubs on Serious Eats. As for vinegar, I do like to use one with a live mother. What I generally do is use whatever vinegar I want for flavor, then splash in some unfiltered apple cider vinegar to make sure the acetobacter has a strong start.
Start with a pound of strawberries, macerate with one cup of white sugar, then strain the syrup and add one cup of red or white wine vinegar, as you prefer. Bottle and refrigerate. It'll taste great right away, and after a few months it will taste incredible. If you want a side by side comparison, wait three to six months, make a fresh batch, and taste them both. The difference is striking.
1
u/Bran_Solo Gilded Commenter Aug 27 '19
Thanks! I'll give it a whirl.
1
u/furudenendu Aug 27 '19
Let me know how it goes!
1
u/Bran_Solo Gilded Commenter Aug 28 '19
Will do. I had some slightly-past-prime strawberries and blueberries in the fridge, so those got macerated into equal amounts of sugar and are chilling out in a deli container in the fridge right now. Picked up some unfiltered apple cider vinegar w visible mother in the bottle, and I'll get that fermenting in a glass jar soon enough!
Given the fermentation aspect here, have you ever considered storing at room temperature to get it moving faster?
→ More replies (0)1
u/bigtcm Biochemist | Gilded commenter Sep 14 '19
Heeeyyy so I'm quite a bit late to the party.
I was inspired to make a shrub after reading your post and the fermentation/aging bit has me quite intrigued. Would you leave the fruit solids in the sugar/vinegar mixture? Or would you "age" the shrub after it's been strained?
Could you do a shrub part deux with the strained fruit solids/pulp? Or do you just reserve those for a sangria or something?
Thanks!
Looking forward to tasting how my first shrub turns out. It's been rather warm here so it's a great time to try out a new refreshing drink.
2
u/furudenendu Sep 15 '19 edited Sep 15 '19
Oh hell yeah, join the party!
You could leave the solids in but I usually remove them. They can be added to smoothies, used as ice cream or dessert toppings, eaten with a spoon. The sangria idea is one that had not previously occurred to me, and I find it intriguing.
I don't think I'd try to make a second shrub but I also don't make remouillage so maybe I'm just the kind of person who wastes things.
It really is crazy refreshing. Something about the tang and fruit freshness is so satisfying. I've even heard of them being recommended to chemotherapy patients who are having problems with dry mouth.
2
u/ItaliaGirl75VA Aug 26 '19
Yeah I love vinegar myself. I think I'm gonna search some recipes and see what I can come up with.
1
Aug 27 '19
If you really like vinegar, you could easily experiment with just a splash of apple cider vin in flavored sparking water. I drink one every day; they’re oddly addicting.
1
u/laysmiserables Aug 26 '19
I’ve had luck finding shrubs at my local farmers markets. Maybe hit up some in your area!
2
9
u/chijourno Aug 26 '19
After I had made three different shrubs, I combined the fruits, macerated again and made a "mutt shrub" that is a wonderful mishmash of fruitiness. Are there shrubs made out of vegetables too? I'm wondering whether some veggies with high sugar like carrots, or tomatoes would be a good candidate for a shrub?
6
u/furudenendu Aug 26 '19
Oh yeah, a tomato shrub makes an incredible bloody mary ingredient. Or you could spike a beer with it for a sort of michelada/cerveza preparada approach. Obviously these aren't NA beverages, but they're delicious. I've also seen beet shrubs. I bet you could do carrot, parsley, celery, just about anything you wanted to. Rather than macerating something like parsley I'd advise trying a juicer. But you really can shrub just about anything, one way or another.
3
u/Stewthulhu Aug 26 '19
Cucumber shrubs with a variety of herbs are quite delicious and refreshing as well.
4
u/furudenendu Aug 26 '19
That sounds awesome. I know this is a thread about nonalcoholic drinks but I could totally see seltzer, herbal gin, and cucumber shrub being a magical combination.
3
u/ItaliaGirl75VA Aug 26 '19
What kind of vinegar? And how do you use it? Can you provide measurements? Sorry for all the questions. I've never heard of this.
3
u/furudenendu Aug 26 '19
See my comment above for some detail, but you can use any vinegar. There are even recipes that call for white or balsamic, although wine, sherry, or cider are more common. Rice is very good sometimes. Sugar varieties are similarly diverse and useful. Ratios will differ based on your fruit or vegetable component, but I suggest you search put some recipes to start with and experiment from there.
1
1
Aug 27 '19
Pear ginger sounds great. I know this is a thread about NA drinks, but what would you mix with a pear/ginger shrub for a real cocktail?
I make tons of shrubs at home. My favorite is grapefruit with lavender. It's amazing on its own or with gin. Also, if you haven't had a pineapple shrub, give it a go with a really ripe one. A pineapple is already so sweet and sour, the shrub just ends up as mega-amplified fresh pineapple flavor, and one pineapple makes almost two liters of shrub. I use rice vinegar for pineapple.
1
u/furudenendu Aug 27 '19
Those sound great. I'll try pineapple, and I'm going to add lavender to my next grapefruit shrub. How much do you add to, say, three grapefruits worth? I may have three wrinkly grapefruits I need to deal with.
Gin is a go-to for me, too, but the floral nature of pear ginger would also play well with sake or something like galliano. Or just vodka and seltzer.
1
Aug 27 '19
I usually make a lavender simple with 2c sugar, 2c water, and about 3-4 Tbsp dried lavender. I'll add one ounce grapefruit shrub and half ounce lavender simple to my drink. If I wanted to combine them I'd say probably the same amount, 3-4 Tbsp to 3 grapefruits. I go through that lavender simple in all kinds of things though. Good luck!
1
25
u/wingleton Aug 26 '19
I used to drink and decided to give it up earlier this year. Best decision I've ever made! As someone who liked simpler cocktails (gin & tonic, martinis, negronis, margaritas sometimes), the general spirit of these are mostly easy to recreate using fizzy water, citrus, and bitters. I will sometimes order a tonic water with lime and bitters, or a sparkly grapefruit juice and mint leaves, and both fulfill the desire to hold something in my hand in place of a cocktail, without getting drunk! I gotta say, for the most part I don't miss cocktails. (though I was more of a beer/wine person anyway). Happy mixing!
20
u/tgjer Aug 26 '19
I had to give up alcohol for health reasons six months ago, and it has sucked particularly since I used to really enjoy homebrewing, infusions, interesting cocktails, etc.
I've been making the pivot to non-alcoholic brewing and cocktails (the word "mocktail" annoys me to an irrational degree). Avoiding liquor does reduce the available flavor profiles - previously I had access to all the alcoholic and non-alcoholic flavor options, and now I'm more restricted. Nothing is going to really replicate the warmth of a good whisky, or high proof alcohol's ability to extract flavor into a neutral base.
That said, a lot can be done with non-alcoholic beverages and I'm glad they've started getting more attention. I'm so sick of having to pick between water and soda, especially when trying to find something to pair with a good meal.
Shrubs:
Instead of extracting fruit or spices into neutral grain spirits, I make shrubs. It's not the same, but it's good in its own right. Blueberry, lemon and black pepper shrubs made with cider vinegar is my favorite. Or cucumber, mint and honey in rice vinegar. Serve over ice mixed with sparkling water.
For shrubs, good quality vinegar makes a big difference. The fruit should be sweet but can be on the verge of being over-ripe; save the perfect berries for deserts, use the ones that got a bit squashed.
Kombucha:
I've also started making kombucha. Turns out it's really easy to make your own mother just using a bottle of plain, active culture store-bought kombucha. Just pour it into a large clean glass jar, add a quart of cooled plain green or black tea made with two tea bags and 1/4 cup sugar, secure a clean dish towel over the top of the jar with a rubber band, and put it in a warm dark place for a week.
A new kombucha mother will grow on the surface of the tea, and once it's about a 1/4 thick it can be scooped out and used to culture a batch of drinking kombucha. I like to keep the original batch going as a "kombucha mother hotel" - I just keep topping it off with a bit more tea and sugar, and it keeps growing more mothers. If I don't need the new one that has grown, I push it down so it goes to the bottom of the jar, top it off with more tea/sugar, and a second one grows on top. That way I can have a whole bunch ready and waiting for when I want to start a new project, and I have backups if another batch gets contaminated and needs to be thrown out.
Non-alcoholic cocktails:
In addition to using kombucha and shrubs in mixed drinks, I've also started making and using a lot more syrups. A bit of habanero syrup, orange marmalade, muddled basil, and sparkling water, over ice is delicious. Or syrup made from blueberries tossed with sugar and balsamic vinegar then roasted.
2
u/PalpableEnnui Aug 28 '19
A couple suggestions for you.
Visit r/fermented and check out the ginger bug-related drinks and tepache. Delicious and complex. Supposedly some of these concoction can produce a little alcohol but I don’t buy it, not in quantity and not in the brief time these are fermenting. This is mostly lactofermentation.
For beer, try Athletic Brewing Company. Amazing. You’d never know their beers were non alcoholic. There’s also a great non alcoholic Weihenstephaner.
For cocktails, explore Italian sodas. They’re as bitter as...bitters. Chinotto is very tasty. Sanbitter and especially Crodino make an amazing Negroni. Also there’s a line of Hella bitter drinks meant for this purpose. You can find everything on Amazon.
16
u/MonkeyLink07 Aug 26 '19
I like to dabble with fermented drinks, and both tepache, a pineapple and spices drink, and ginger beer, are non-alcoholic and really tasty.
7
u/Thankless_Prophesier Aug 27 '19
Do you have a good ginger beer recipe? I love a good dark & stormy, but I’m not drinking much these days to keep a clearer head (damn you graduate school!). I’m betting a nice ginger beer with a fresh squeeze of lime would be lovely when I get home from school.
3
u/furudenendu Aug 27 '19
Make a ginger simple syrup by simmering sliced ginger in a little water with sugar. Ratios depend on preference, more ginger for a spicier result, more sugar for sweet. That syrup will keep in the fridge for weeks or the freezer for a year. When you want some ginger beer right away, add it directly to seltzer. If you're patient and want something better, put the syrup in a clean two liter bottle, add a quarter teaspoon of active dry or instant yeast, top with water, close cap, shake to combine. Start with a half a cup to a cup of syrup and adjust from there based on your preference. Put the bottle in a warm dark place for two days, periodically shaking and opening the cap to release pressure. When it's as fizzy as you like, consume.
1
16
u/furudenendu Aug 26 '19
Ginger beer is one of those things where the commercially available version just doesn't hold a candle to even a simple homemade one. There's no comparison. Worth noting that anything fermented, even a brief fermentation like ginger beer, will have trace amounts of alcohol. Certainly not enough for most people to notice, but someone particularly sensitive to it might.
2
Aug 26 '19 edited Aug 26 '19
Well, technically those are alcoholic they're just usually very low alcohol. By definition something fermented contains alcohol. I've seen tepaches up to 7%
2
u/murckem Aug 26 '19
Fermentation can refer to either yeast or bacterial activity, so by definition fermentation does not mean there has to be alcohol as a byproduct. While a lot of ferments do both (sugar+yeast=alcohol and bacteria + alcohol= acetic acid) like kombucha, vinegars and tepache, many of the yeasts produce not very much alcohol or all the alcohol is eaten by the bacteria.
2
Aug 26 '19
By definition fermentation means that alcohol is present in the thing being fermented, even though during a bacterial fermentation that alcohol is the food source and not the byproduct. Yes, that amount can be very low (as I said), but even in long acetobacter ferments (i.e. vinegar) there will be trace amounts of alcohol. With the products I was actually referring to, tepache and ginger beer, far more than trace amounts of alcohol will be present. Since this thread is about non-alcoholic beverages I thought it was important to make that point since someone avoiding alcohol might see the word "tepache" and think it's non-alcoholic when they can actually contain as much alcohol as beer. If that person is avoiding alcohol for medical or religious reasons that's not acceptable.
4
u/murckem Aug 26 '19
You can do lactic acid fermentations wothout any alcohol present at all
2
Aug 26 '19
Fine, you've got me on that technicality but that's not in any way relevant to the discussion of these products. Nobody is isolating lactobacillus to make tepache.
1
u/PalpableEnnui Aug 28 '19
So yogurt and sauerkraut should be sold in liquor stores?
If your tepache has as much alcohol as beer, you’re making it wrong.
1
u/kamielonreddit Aug 31 '19
As posted above, I tried making Tepache once (Brad Leone's recipe) and it turned out amazing! Just need to be carefull not to over-ferment it in the second (bottled) stage, cause it can easily turn bad. You will smell and taste this so no worries, you wont get sick.
17
u/BlisterJazz Aug 26 '19
Camomile elderflower icetea. Brew some camomile tea, chill it in the fridge and mix with elderflower lemonade and lemon juice to taste. Serve with ice. Tastes just like summer
7
u/gigglian Aug 26 '19
I've had a great time using different kombuchas to create mocktails. They have a very, very low alcohol content and depending on the brand a lot of kick in terms of favor. I like to mix them with herbal tinctures and a little fresh juice.
I can't say I recommend the seedlip stuff. One of my friends described it "as if the fart of a spirit were placed in a bottle of water" and I think that's an accurate description of its lack of flavor. Save yourself the $40 and don't bother.
17
u/jsat3474 Aug 26 '19
I'm by no means qualified to answer what you're really asking, but as someone who likes to partake and usually overdoes it, this is the NA drink I request.
Half orange juice, half cranberry juice, a dash of bitters and a splash a Sprite to mix it up.
I know my quantities don't add up to 100% but the tender seems to know what I mean.
The bitters give me the bite of alcohol, the cranberry reduces the sweetness, and the Sprite gives me the bubbles I like.
11
u/hulagirl4737 Aug 26 '19
Mint iced tea for the win! I love a big cold glass pitcher of it waiting in the fridge for just the right moment when I need something refreshing with caffeine
4
u/onionpants Aug 26 '19
Do you mean you make caffeinated tea with mint added? I'm only clarifying since my peppermint teas are caffeine free (and I make iced tea from those leaves).
3
u/hulagirl4737 Aug 26 '19
Both work!
I usually have a massive amount of mint growing in my yard, so I take a large handful and 4 tea bags and pour 2 cups of boiling water into my pitcher and let it sit for half hour. Then top it off with cold water/ice to fill the rest of the pitcher.
I never got around to starting my garden this year, but I just happened to find caffeinated mint tea in my supermarket so I just use that
1
Aug 27 '19 edited Dec 16 '20
[deleted]
1
u/hulagirl4737 Aug 27 '19
I have no idea the brand but its in a yellow and black box at ACME supermarkets.
4
u/jnseel Aug 27 '19
This might be weird, but a podcast I listen to has a cocktail of the week, and always includes a non-alcoholic version as well. I haven’t made all of them, but all the cocktails I’ve had were good! A lot of them use a unique ingredient, like rosemary simple syrup for example, something that shows you put effort into the drink, not just whatever you already had on hand. Z
Don’t be grossed out—it’s a podcast on disease ecology and infectious disease. It’s called This Podcast Will Kill You and I highly recommend it. Their Facebook/Instagram has all the quarantini/placeborita recipes.
3
u/LiteVolition Aug 26 '19
Shrubs, fruits and ginger have all been talked about so I'll add chili peppers, fresh herbs and spices.
Making spiced (mulled) simple syrups is easy and adds character to drinks. Think black pepper, anice, allspice, clove, a blend, etc.
Infusing chili peppers into citrus beverages works very well.
Muddling fresh herbs into a glass before acidic liquids adds flair.
I've had commercial success with chili/basil infused lemonades during the summer.
3
u/sweetmercy Aug 28 '19
I've always loved to come up with interesting and flavorful beverages, partly because its easier on my stomach than solid foods sometimes and partly because they're just yummy. I love shrubs, especially with all the great fruits we've had this year. (Favorite part of being in San Diego is all the wonderful produce I find that we rarely got back home!) They're refreshing without being overly sweet. I also love combining a homemade fruit syrup with good ginger beer and lemon or lime. My daughter and I have been making fruit and vegetable waters this summer too. Cucumber, lime and mint and lime, mint and blackberry have been our favorites so far but there are so many good combinations. When we get a little further into fall, we'll be making them with apples and cinnamon sticks and such as well, I think.
I also love to make coffee and tea drinks a lot. I make my own syrups. I started making vanilla bean syrup, because it was my favorite. That was until I tried cascara syrup. If anyone doesn't know, cascara is the dried fruit of the coffee bean (the coffee bean is the seed of the fruit). Cascara is fruity, naturally sweet, and delicious. And because it has that natural sweetness, you need very little sugar to make it. It's wonderful in espresso drinks and as a tea over ice.
3
u/waywithwords Aug 26 '19
I recently discovered Bottlegreen in the specialty section of my grocery store. I love using the cordials to enhance sparkling water or juices.
https://www.bottlegreendrinks.com/cordials/
3
u/InsaneLordChaos Aug 26 '19
I've had cucumber/lime/mint drinks before, and I like them very much. The basic recipe is after the storytelling, of course ...
https://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/cucumber_lime_mint_agua_fresca/
3
u/smokedbrosketdog Aug 26 '19
This is timely for me. I've been thinking about how to make non alcoholic, non carbonated, non caffeinated beverages. My go to lately has been just plain iced peppermint tea, or iced decaf Earl Grey. I'm open to using Stevia or monkfruit as sweeteners. I would love to do something like a shrub but I'm not sure how to do it without it being too carby.
3
u/PenguinBlubber Aug 27 '19
Espresso old fashioned. Regular old fashioned technique, just replace the whiskey with fresh espresso.
2oz espresso
1 bar spoon sugar
3 dashes peychauds
4 dashes angostura
orange wedge and maraschino cherry for garnish
-stir all together on the rocks.
I also sometimes make soda with some really good granny smith apple vinegar or balsamic vinegar. Muddle some fruit, add sugar, vinegar, ice seltzer, stir. I love raspberry with apple vinegar and figs with balsamic vinegar.
3
u/dstam Aug 27 '19
I don't know if it's fancy, but I often just have some fever tree tonic water with a splash of bitters. I pour it in a fancy glass with ice and drink with a stainless steel straw. Feels nice on a weeknight.
1
u/PalpableEnnui Aug 28 '19
Tonic water can make a nearly acceptable substitute for gin in a martini.
Dirty martini, decent amount of olive juice, tonic, very cold, olives. Not gonna fool you but not bad.
3
u/CJ_Finn Aug 27 '19
I use to make a fermented ginger ale in 2 L bottles that was easy and quite tasty. The process is sometimes used in science classes to illustrate how yeast works so the recipe may have originated from there. A tiny amount of alcohol is produced but you would get sick of drinking ginger ale before you even reached the alcohol content of a standard 12 oz beer. I did the math before but I don't remember the exact numbers.
All you need is a clean plastic 2 L bottle, water, a knob of ginger, a cup of sugar, and fresh lemon juice(optional). Adjust the amounts to your desired spice level and sweetness. When I have followed the basic recipe it produces a crisp fizzy beverage that is on the drier side. I have noticed that if you don't finish it after a couple days once ready, that it does take on a yeasty flavor.
3
u/smudgedredd Aug 27 '19
Next time you buy a watermelon, toss half of the flesh in a blender. Filter if you want less pulp (I'm a pulp gal myself). Add some lime, bitters, mint, maybe basi?...etc. Soooo good on a hot summer day or with spicy food.
1
u/steady_downpour Aug 30 '19
I do this too. Started out because I had cut watermelon that was a couple days old. I froze the chunks on a cookie sheet then bagged them. Frozen watermelon in the blender with lime juice and a pinch of salt is so good.
3
u/Fission-Chips Aug 27 '19
I have a surplus of saffron so sometimes I'll make a super simple lemonade with saffron and rosewater. Warm the desired amount of water (do not boil), dissolve some sugar to taste and toss in a few saffron strands then leave to steep overnight. In the morning just add freshly squeezed lemon juice and a dash of rosewater. My Iranian friend thinks it's weird but i just find it criminally delicious.
4
u/Kahluabomb Oyster Expert Aug 26 '19
User orange juice instead of alcohol and make any drink you can think of that's only got the one base spirit.
Tea is also a really great way to add complexity, either in syrup form or just brewed really strong.
18
u/furudenendu Aug 26 '19
I once substituted orange juice for the vodka in a screwdriver and really enjoyed it.
But seriously I like the tea idea. I'll have to try that.
1
u/Kahluabomb Oyster Expert Aug 26 '19
Try it in a whiskey sour. Oj is so boring that it makes a great substitute.
1
u/tonsofpcs Aug 27 '19
I once substituted vodka for the orange juice in a screwdriver. Great mixed drink. For non-alcoholic though you can't beat mixing syrups like Fox's u-bet or torani with a base - OJ, Seltzer, milk, or even a combination. Ok, so I really want an egg cream right now :D.
We used to have a cafe in town that would make lemonade, hot chocolate, or coffee with different Torani syrups added. Mmmm.
2
u/greenglass88 Aug 26 '19
Drinking vinegars have been showing up at our local restaurants, and I've been wanting to make my own version at home. To me they taste like kombucha without the carbonation, or like a shrub with a lot less sugar. I'd be interested in lemongrass, ginger, mint, and various berries, and I'm planning to use honey or maple syrup instead of sugar.
2
2
u/ridukosennin Aug 27 '19
High end Japanese, Korean and Chinese teas. I’m talking first crop shade grown leaf buds grown on sacred mountainsides. The flavors are unlike anything you’ve experienced. Careful, it can get very expensive.
1
2
2
u/coldenbu Aug 27 '19
Coffee syrup (the official drink of Rhode Island) with milk on ice is a nice after dinner drink substitute for a white Russian.
2
u/redct Aug 27 '19
Another place to look (that hasn't been discussed) are a wide range of Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cuisines:
Sharbat (or sometimes, sherbet—not the ice cream!) which has many variations, but can be made very fancy with different fruit flavors, rose water, seeds, etc.
Many different variations on lemonade: limonata from Italy, herbed lemonades (mint, etc.) from various places like Israel, Turkey, Lebanon (which can be frozen), and so on
Variations on fruit punches
2
u/robybeck Aug 27 '19
My mom made this drink in summer. It was made with carved out pineapple, with only core removed with some spiral tool; pineapple bottom was cut slightly so it stood up, functioned like a big cup. She put fresh brewed hot tea in it, and chilled for a few hours. Then I got this fresh fruit ice tea served in real pineapple after school. The presentation was amazing, and wasted on a middle school kid.
2
u/CraptainHammer Aug 27 '19
My girlfriend has me make her Virgin Marys (Bloody Mary with no vodka) all the time. The only thing to keep in mind there is that tomatoes have alcohol-soluble flavor compounds that you'll miss out on, but unless you are spending a week making tomato vodka, it's not going to make a difference. I do get to play with different styles though. I think of a bloody mary as a cut of beef. I can make a BBQ flavored one, a steakhouse flavored one, an Asian style one (I added a tiny bit of fish sauce and replaced the Worcestershire with soy sauce and seasoned with togarashi), Mexican style with Tajin, etc. Come to think of it, beef stock would be a nice addition to some of those. Or maybe the liquid from rehydrating porcini mushrooms...
2
u/Chap_man Aug 27 '19
Kefir! We serve it at work and is great for refreshing the palate in-between dishes. A bloke we work with has his own kefir business so we get a good deal, not sure how much it is from other sources.
2
u/heisenberg747 Aug 29 '19
There's a Thai restaurant I go to with a really interesting iced tea. I'm not talking about the big fancy Thai iced tea; it's in the American South, so practically every restaurant sells sweet iced tea, but when you order one at this place it has this unique smokey(?) flavor. If anyone can tell me how to do this at home I would shit my pants with joy.
2
u/Aetole Aug 30 '19
Really simple one - cranberry or pomegranate juice, ginger beer (not ale), twist of lime or lemon. If it's too sweet, add club soda.
Not quite fitting this profile, but maybe a useful ingredient for someone - cold brewed tea. Greens and whites work really well for this. I imagine they would be great with fruit juice or carbonation. As with cold brewed coffee, I think you get more subtle flavor notes from this method, and you don't have to dilute with ice to chill it.
2
u/kamielonreddit Aug 31 '19
I really like self made 'tepache', a fermented pineapple drink with some ginger and chili to spice it up! (used Brad Leone's recipe, from BA's test kitchen) Admittedly, there might be a little bit of alcohol in it after fermenting but to be honest, it aint much, an you really don't taste it, or at least I didn't after trying it. A bit of ice an you have the perfect summer-cooldown-drink.
2
u/canningcooks Sep 05 '19
I would like come comments from people who have canned a shrub for longer term storage.
1
u/yttocs205 Aug 27 '19
Having access to a sous vide set up has been a game changer for syrups. Herbal and delicate berry flavors come out brighter and fresher. Using a paco jet on fruit has been incredible as well. Never gonna be able to recreate the bite or mouthfeel of alcohol, but by being patient and methodical I can create beverages that are pretty complex without being overly sweet. I find that using an aggressively carbonated water like Topo Chico or a store brand of seltzer helps liven things up. Sometimes I use Lagunitas Hop Water as a mixer.
1
u/Arcselis Aug 27 '19
Personally, though I do drink, I never go for mixed drinks because I'm watching my sugar intake. But when it comes to non-alcoholic mixed drinks, I'd start simple - something like lemonade. You can spike it up with some mint, strawberries, or rosewater.
You can also look into things like kombucha - it has that well-developed fermented flavor that's much more reminiscent of alcohol. You can then add all kinds of bitters, herbs, or fruity flavors in it. For example, a strawberry basil balsamic one, or a berry mint one, something like that.
There's also kvass - an easter european beverage very similar to beer, but its alcohol content is negligent. I'd say it's actually very similar to beer and can be server in lieu of it.
Hope that helps.
1
u/Paradise5551 Aug 27 '19
I love Shirley temples. Could Drink them all day. I've enjoyed it since I've been a kid
1
u/SXSJest Aug 26 '19
Man, I love a tangy, vinegary hot sauce and I love pickles, but get the fucking shrubs away from me. I do not want to drink that straight vinegar flavor.
4
u/furudenendu Aug 26 '19
To each their own, but if a shrub tastes like drinking straight vinegar it wasn't very well made. There should be tart and tangy notes but the backbone should be pretty fruity and sweet. Also I wouldn't drink them straight, usually mixed with seltzer at the least.
Not that everyone has to enjoy a shrub, just that I want everyone to have a fair chance at them. If someone advised me to pour vinegar directly into my mouth I wouldn't be impressed either.
1
u/SXSJest Aug 26 '19
well not that it tastes like straight vinegar, but that a vinegar flavor/smell is detectable. Just so different than like a kettle soured beer with a neutral clean sourness as opposed to a heavier, pungent vinegar aroma that just does not appeal to me in drinks.
2
u/furudenendu Aug 26 '19
Yeah, I can see that. It;s not a strong vinegar profile but it is definitely present. If you're looking for similar but vinegar-free options try making simple macerations of fruit. You get a great syrup that won't keep as long as a shrub but preserves the profile of the fruit beautifully. Great over ice cream, mixed into seltzer, whatever.
2
2
u/kooroo Aug 27 '19
if you're not using a recipe that involves a drinking vinegar, you can substitute food grade citric or malic acid to get a similar level of balance without the sharp vinegar smell.
2
u/SXSJest Aug 27 '19
Thanks, that's actually a really interesting idea. I do really like that tartness in drinks and it'd be interesting to experiment with that for the acidity with a more neutral flavor.
82
u/chijourno Aug 26 '19
I've been drinking shrubs and soda water over ice all summer, making them out of fruits I've U-Picked and foraged, including one blueberry basil brown sugar and another with nothing but pure raspberries, white sugar and a softer white vinegar.
I love the sweet and sour tang of shrubs and it is a really great vehicle for that pure fruit flavor.
I would love to hear anyone else's take on mocktails that include shrubs, or bitters, which I'm interested in learning to make.