Rock the Mocktail

Craving something complex, flavorful, and bubbly—sans booze? All you need is seltzer, ice, and one of four must-try flavor enhancers.

mocktail recipes

Photograph by Bruce Peterson, styling by Nina Gallant

Do you like your drinks…

TART?

Try: Bug Hill Farm Fruit Shrubs

If you prefer Sour Patch Kids to Swedish Fish and Berliner Weisses to lagers, allow us to introduce you to the shrub, a potent mixture of sugar, fruit, and vinegar. Start with Bug Hill Farm’s bright bramble-berry variety, and then step up to the more acidic, warmly spiced pear tincture, made with bold apple-cider vinegar.

$15, Cambridge Naturals, 23 White St., Cambridge, 617-492-4452, cambridgenaturals.com.

mocktail recipes

SPICY?

Try: Pickett’s Ginger Beer Syrup

One 16-ounce bottle of this concentrated syrup is enough to make 96 ounces (6 pints) of strong, spicy ginger beer that can hold its own—and then some—against the -fancy pre-bottled stuff.

$16, the Boston Shaker, 69 Holland St., Somerville, 617-718-2999, thebostonshaker.com.

mocktail recipes

CLASSIC?

Try: Royal Rose Raspberry Syrup

Re-create a classic raspberry-lime rickey without the cloying purplish syrup. This version (pictured above) contains a mere three ingredients: water, sugar, and organic berries.

$11, Olives & Grace, 623 Tremont St., Boston, 617-236-4536, olivesandgrace.com.

mocktail recipes

VAGUELY COCKTAIL-ESQUE?

Try: Woodford Reserve Cherry Bitters

Yearning for a bourbon Manhattan…at 10 a.m.? A few drops of bourbon-barrel-aged cherry bitters in seltzer evoke the classic cocktail flavor—with barely any booze.

$14, the Boston Shaker, 69 Holland St., Somerville, 617-718-2999, thebostonshaker.com.

mocktail recipes

Additional photographs by Toan Trinh