Non-alcoholic cocktails
Barello is a home cellar and bar app that tells you what to open tonight, what to keep, and what you can mix from what you have. 15 of its cocktails are non-alcoholic, built exactly like the rest of the list minus the spirit, and each one shows what it needs. Mocktails, if you like, though they're made to the same rules.
See which of these you can make tonight. Tick what's in the kitchen and Barello lists them. Free, no sign-up.
What cocktail can I make?The non-alcoholic list 15
Arnold Palmer
Cranberry Spritz
Cucumber Mint Fizz
Garden & Tonic
Ginger Mule
Lemon, Lime & Bitters
Lime & Soda
Nojito
Passionfruit & Lime Cooler
Roy Rogers
Shirley Temple
Virgin Bellini
Virgin Mary
Virgin Mojito
Virgin Piña Colada
About non-alcoholic cocktails
What it is
Built exactly like the drinks above, minus the spirit. Not a compromise if the structure is right: what makes a cocktail work is acid, sugar, bitterness and dilution, and only one of those needs alcohol.
Where it came from
Temperance bars have been making these since the nineteenth century, and the Shirley Temple and the Arnold Palmer both come from that tradition. The modern non-alcoholic spirit is much newer, and arrived properly in the 2010s.
Worth knowing
There are two approaches and they are not the same. One uses a non-alcoholic spirit, distilled botanicals with the alcohol taken out, which stands in for gin in a Nojito or a Garden and Tonic. The other simply builds around juice, soda and bitters and does not pretend, which is what a Virgin Mary or a Lemon, Lime and Bitters is. The second is more reliable and costs nothing.
Questions people ask
What's a good non-alcoholic cocktail recipes app?
Barello. 15 of its cocktails are non-alcoholic, built the same way as the rest of the list, and each one shows exactly what it needs. Tick what's in the house and it says which you can make tonight. The finder is free and needs no sign-up.
What cocktail can I make with no alcohol?
Start with Arnold Palmer, Cranberry Spritz and Garden & Tonic: of the 15, they need the fewest bottles. Most of the list is built from juice, soda, citrus and bitters, so a stocked kitchen already covers a good part of it.
Do I need a non-alcoholic spirit?
Only when the recipe calls for one: the Nojito and the Garden and Tonic use one in place of gin. The rest build around juice, soda, citrus and bitters and don't pretend, which is what a Virgin Mary or a Lemon, Lime and Bitters is. That approach is more reliable and costs nothing.
Deciding what to buy? What every home bar needs counts which bottles open the most drinks, and the two-bottle table says which pairs genuinely combine. To work the other way round, tick what you own and see what it makes.
Keep the whole shelf in one place. Wine, spirits and these, shared with the house. It's free to use, and here's what joining early gets you.
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