I present a unicorn: a specialty cookbook that has barely any hard to find ingredients and not too many single use specialty items (as in, specialty thing to acquire, but only use tiny bit in one recipe). The Art of Mixology: Mocktails is also kind of on-trend, but that’s also probably why I saw it on sale at the bulls-eye store.
Before getting to the recipes there is a review of bar-tending equipment, glassware, terms/techniques, and general ingredient types. If you know your cocktails, none of this is new. Terms include clarifications like muddle vs blend, stir vs shake; equipment recommended includes things like a jigger, strainer, muddler, and juicer; ingredient types include categories like shrubs, juices, and syrups. There’s also a brief (1-page) review of mocktails and their history in the US. Then come the recipes, organized by general profile, such as fresh, zing, cream, berry, tropic, and kick (ie- spice).
“Fresh” basically means fruit, with the exception of the Italian Soda (hazelnut syrup, sparkling water, and a lime slice for garnish), and the Virgin Ginger Fizz (ginger ale, fresh mint, and mint and raspberries for garnish). I don’t dispute the second one fits into the category, but I personally don’t think garnish counts as drink profile. I’m not sure why the zing category is separate, as it too is largely fruit derived (citrus, and pomegranate, grape, and ginger). There are citrus-based things in the fruit category, so what is different in profile between the Arnold Palmer (fruity) and mimosa (zingy; sparkling grape juice swap for the champagne)?
There are a couple of single use syrups that you’d have to get to try everything, but both orgeat and hazelnut go well in coffee; and elderflower goes well with iced-tea and fizzy water things in general. The only other one would be the bee pollen which shows up once, but actually isn’t that hard to find; I’ve seen that on shelf at a Fresh Market or similar level grocery store. The green peppermint syrup though, that one seems a little bit more single/limited use. Plus, that’s just asking to be dyi’d using regular syrup (commercial or homemade) and food coloring. The only real ingredient complaint I’ve got is that some of the juices would be a little more challenging to find depending on when/where you are, at least in plain just juice form (by which I mean, no “juice beverage” sorts of things which are at least 50% non-juice).
Final note: I don’t quite understand why most recipes are 1 serving but there are a couple that serve four or six, and a few that serve ten or twelve. Those are all valid options depending on the need, but most people are going to want to focus on one of those options (for yourself, your family, your party), and there’s not much there about adjusting for scale up or down as you might want.
I’m not totally sober, although I don’t drink much (in the sense of alcohol consumption, that is), so this collection looks like a lot of fun, especially with summer coming up.
