The spirit-free approach
Zero proof and spirit-free drinks are anything but boring
Hola amigos, I hope you had a good weekend. Before I get into today’s story, I just want to remind us all of the families and communities in Los Angeles as people are displaced and trying to rebuild their lives. Did you see that my friends Jennifer Garner and Eva Longoria have been helping World Central Kitchen? They are incredible people and are helping feed as many as possible. There are also so many other chefs and people from the food community, like my friends (who once were on my team!) Hollis Wells Silverman, Rochelle Cooper, and Rubén García, along with some other amazing DC chefs and restaurant owners, who put together a fundraiser here in DC called “Feast for Good.” There are so many chefs who have used their platforms to help, and it fills my heart with so much love. I am so proud of all of you.
So, people, a few weeks ago we talked about drinking trends for the coming year, and the amazing José Andrés Group beverage team weighed in to offer their takes on what they’re seeing in the beverage industry. Today, I want to go into a little more depth about the movement towards low-alcohol and spirit-free cocktails, because a lot of you were happy to hear us talk about it!
We said that more and more people are embracing a “sober curious” lifestyle, driven by the fact that Gen Z consumes the least amount of alcohol of all recent generations. But it’s not all about the alcohol! Cocktails are more creative than ever, with more unexpected ingredients than ever…which means spirit-free and low-alcohol drinks actually expand—not limit—the possibilities of what goes in your glass.
Today, I want to introduce you to Josh Murski, senior bar manager at José Andrés Group (he’s the one who created a method for crystal-clear ice cubes at home—maybe we need to get him to tell you all about it sometime). Josh is another incredible team member whose creativity and ingenuity has helped us become leaders in the spirit-free space, because to me it’s all about enjoying the moment, whether or not you’re drinking alcohol.
Here are a few thoughts from Josh:
Spirit-free cocktails have evolved tremendously in the last few years.
We’ve evolved past the “mocktail,” which used to essentially be a mule (like a Moscow mule) without the vodka—some sort of juice, usually citrus, with soda water. Sometimes you’d throw in ginger or saffron, but it was almost always sparkling. Things are different now. There are a lot of new products on the market that have flavors that mimic popular spirits without the alcohol. Not all of them are perfect, but there are some really, really good ones out there, and it’s been fun to learn more and develop new cocktails without leaning on booze.
There’s a lot more chemistry to cocktail creation than you might realize.
When you take alcohol out of a drink, you need to think about what you’re going to replace. A lot of the time, it’s viscosity, because alcohol provides a lot of that viscosity—when you distill something with alcohol, you ferment it first, so it brings a certain weight to the final product, and it concentrates flavors. When you don’t have alcohol, or when you have a really low alcohol beverage, you lose a lot of that weight and concentration, so you need to think about replacing those elements. So we might use something like maple syrup instead of simple syrup, or replace an ice shake with a juice shake—shaking the cocktail with ice cubes made from fruit juice—which can really bring back that viscosity. A great example of this is the Emerald Coin at Bazaar Bar at the Ritz-Carlton in NoMad NYC, which is shaken with honeydew melon.
Drinking is not about “bang for your buck” anymore.
The attitude towards drinking in general has shifted. A lot of Gen Z isn’t drinking at all, or drinking way less than other generations, so it’s definitely driven the beverage industry to get creative with the experience at a bar or restaurant. It used to be about getting the most buzz for your dollar—think a Long Island iced tea!—but today it’s really about the experience you have at a certain place. I think we’re really meeting the demand, but sometimes that demand is unspoken…it shows up as relief for a lot of customers. They feel seen and heard that someone cares about putting as much thought and creativity into a cocktail without spirits as they do into a high-proof drink. Something we’re doing right now at Zaytinya is a low-ABV drink we’re calling Mastiha and Coconut, which has Mastiha, a low-proof Greek spirit, plus lime and sparkling water, and it’s clarified with coconut milk so it’s crystal clear.
It is absolutely possible to recreate a “boozy” cocktail without alcohol.
Going back to the “mule mocktail” days, there weren’t always a lot of low alcohol and spirit-free options for someone who didn’t want alcohol, whatever their reasons were. You had the mules, you had soft drinks, and you might have a zero-proof beer here or there, but the idea of a drink like a negroni, without the alcohol, was basically unheard of. And now, you can think about these drinks in a couple different categories—a Collins style, that’s refreshing, a sour cocktail, like a daiquiri, a boozy cocktail, like an old fashioned or a negroni, or juicy cocktails that are fruit-forward. So we’ve really been working on that…and, to that exact example, you can now get a zero-proof negroni—the Cuadratura, at the Capital One Landing at National Airport in Washington, DC. We didn’t just try to replicate the flavor, we wanted you to feel the tingle that you get from alcohol, which we were able to do with the Three Spirit Livener…and it works. You really feel like you’re drinking a negroni. We’re also serving a version of it at The Bazaar New York, NoMad at the Ritz-Carlton which we’re calling the Candlelight Negroni, made with Everleaf Mountain, Wilfred’s Aperitif, and Everleaf Marine.
Hola, José again…I’d love to hear if you’ve tried one of our spirit-free drinks in any of our restaurants! If not, try it out…they’re incredibly refreshing and just as nuanced as any drink with alcohol.
Raising a glass to this community, with or without the alcohol!
We should boycott red state products like bourbon and whiskey
I tried a non alcoholic drink at Jaleo last summer that I loved: it had bay leaf syrup and lime — incredible! I wish I could replicate at home.