The Magic Ingredients To Add Familiar Textures To Mocktails

Just because you're forgoing booze doesn't mean you can't enjoy a delicious drink. Mocktails have been quenching the thirst of those who abstain from alcohol since Shirley Temple was a child, but in recent years these alcohol-free recipes have evolved into a category of sophisticated replacements for cocktails. While some drinkers may think that ordering a cocktail sans alcohol promises some kind of watered-down experience, mocktail recipes can provide nuanced and flavorful drinks that can hold their own when lined up on a bar next to cocktails prepared by professionals.

To create a mocktail at home that perfectly mimics its boozy cousins, there are a few key ingredients that can help you build similar flavors and textures found in many standard cocktail recipes. From egg whites to butter, these easy additions will have your drinks delivering substantial mouthfeels and full bodies that traditional cocktails recipes are known for. A drink without alcohol doesn't mean the taste or texture of your beverage is doomed to suffer.

Incorporating egg whites into recipes can help create structure and build drink texture, while both butter and coconut can help aspiring bartenders create mocktails that present thicker consistencies for drinkers to enjoy. Egg whites are a common addition to many cocktail recipes, and bartenders use the sticky ingredient to create foamy drink recipes like whiskey sours. As you shake egg whites, a frothy layer is left on the top of your drink, whether or not alcohol is included.

Butter is another ingredient that can lend a satisfying texture to non-alcoholic drinks. The creaminess of butter can provide either a sweet or slightly salty thickness to virgin riffs on drinks like old-fashioned cocktails, martinis, and negronis. Fat-washing, a process that infuses a cocktail with butter or other fat, is well-loved by innovative, trendsetting bartenders who want to play with the flavor and viscosity of their drinks. Though the process would need to be adjusted (as it works in part because of alcohol's low freezing point), the principle is the same: infusing a fat like butter into your drinks adds rich flavor, silky smooth texture, and a heftier body.

Thinking about both the flavors and the texture of the alcohol-free drinks you want to make can provide satisfying drinking experiences to teetotalers and those choosing alcohol-free experiences.