Don’t just rely on the bartender’s creativity
“I’ll mix you something delicious” – as this announcement from the bartender was followed by a few disappointments – cocktails without alcohol but almost always with pineapple juice and tons of sugar, we took the cocktail shaker into our own hands
Shirley Temple
A reader drew our attention to this classic non-alcoholic drink and inspired us to pay more attention to the subject.
So we went in search of interesting non-alcoholic cocktails that you can easily mix at home, as you already have most of the ingredients on hand or can get them relatively easily.
It all depends on the quality of the ingredients
The classic mocktail, the Shirley Temple, requires only four ingredients:
- 20 ml pomegranate syrup
- 20 ml lime juice
- Ginger ale
- Amarena cherry(s)
Who hasn’t seen them, the blue and white porcelain containers from the Italian company Fabri, which used to be on the shelf in every ice cream parlor. They contain delicious Amarena cherries, which are now produced by the sixth generation of the family business from Bologna.
Even with ginger ale, there are products that are simply sweet, or products that have flavor and do not rely solely on sugar. Every major drinks retailer now has interesting ginger ale variants on their shelves.
Pomegranate syrup is now available everywhere and can be used not only for cocktails but also as an addition to salad dressings or dark sauces.
When the UN General Assembly is due the next morning
The cocktail, which was created around 1930 and named after the child star of the time, is child’s play to mix: Pour the pomegranate syrup and lime juice into a tall glass with ice cubes, stir and top up with ginger ale. The Amarena cherry or cherries are added to the glass at the very end.
The drink, which has sweetness and acidity, is ready. Shirley Temple, who worked for many years as a US delegate to the UN General Assembly and served as ambassador for the United States in Ghana and Czechoslovakia, will probably have often found a non-alcoholic cocktail useful when she had a UN General Assembly meeting the next day.
Buttermilk margarita
The Original Margarita (2 cl lemon juice, 2 cl triple sec or Cointreau and 4 cl tequila) has it all. And it meets the requirements for a perfect cocktail, according to Munich legend Charles Schumann, who believes that “cocktails should generally contain no more than three ingredients” and, like us, is convinced: “The best quality ingredients!”.
Tequila is available in every conceivable quality level. The best are made from 100 percent agave juice. Whether you prefer clear tequila or tequila matured in wooden barrels is a matter of taste.
The margarita tastes great in a large glass with a salt rim on a Mexican vacation. However, if you have difficult negotiations the next day, you’re better off with a buttermilk margarita.
The idea for the Buttermilk Margarita came from Betty Kupsa, who runs The Chug Club in Hamburg, a bar in St. Pauli that aims to improve the reputation of quality tequila.
We tried her recipe for the buttermilk margarita and loved it, but varied it a little as the basic recipe was a little too sweet for us. This is how GloriousMe mixes it:
- 50 ml buttermilk
- 20 ml freshly squeezed lime juice
- 10 ml agave syrup
- 1/2 teaspoon quince or lemon jelly
Stir the lime juice, agave syrup and jelly in a shaker. Depending on the consistency of the jelly, this may be very quick or take a little patience. Once everything is well mixed together, add the ice cubes and buttermilk, shake vigorously for around 20 seconds and strain.
We prefer to serve the buttermilk tequila in a stylish cocktail glass and love this tart drink, which can do without a salt rim, preferably well chilled.
Admittedly, the agave syrup only gives the drink the illusion of tequila flavor, but even the illusion is nice. Just right for a warm late summer evening.
Belmont “Dessert”
In our search for delicious cocktails, we came across the Belmont, which is said to have been named after a hotel in New York in 1917. However, the real Belmont contains gin.
- 4 cl gin
- 3 cl cream
- 2 cl raspberry syrup
If you put all three ingredients in a shaker with ice, let it rotate and then strain the cocktail into a fine Lobmeyr glass, you have a delicious cocktail in your hand. If you leave out the gin, you can enjoy the fastest dessert in the world.
Bar or home
Our enthusiasm for hitting the shaker at home doesn’t mean we want to turn our backs on the beautiful bars of this world. A beautiful bar, perfectly lit and with the right background music is an experience we wouldn’t want to miss.
But if we want to be 100 percent fit the next day, we’ll use our new knowledge and no longer rely solely on the bartender’s creativity, but order a Shirley Temple or a buttermilk margarita.
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Photographs © GloriousMe 2023
