Welcome to part one of our alcohol-free mini series, The Mocktail Mix, where we’ll be celebrating alcohol-free drinking and sharing an easy-to-make recipe for a refreshing Elderflower Mojito (sans the rum).
Sober curiosity If you’re trying to be more mindful of your alcohol consumption, an expectant mother, or abstaining for your own health or mental wellbeing, going sober shouldn’t mean missing out or inducing FOMA (Fear Of Missing Alcohol).
In fact, Sunday Times Bestseller Catherine Gray gave sobriety something of a rebrand in her 2017 book The Unexpected Joy of Being Sober; a self-proclaimed tri-brid of a self-help guide, report and honest memoir. Not only is the sober life good for your health, Gray claims, it’s actually better fun, too. You can still enjoy a party with friends or revel in the seasonal celebrations, but you can also enjoy the day after too, hangover, guilt and patchy memory-free; your long-term health and happiness will also thank you too. And since Gray’s bestseller was released, a somewhat more approachable ‘sober curious’ movement (a term coined by Ruby Warrington in her 2018 book of the same name) has garnered popularity, simply empowering people to reconsider their relationship with drink. If you’re interested in learning more about this, Club Soda UK is a great place to find inspiration for mindful drinking. And so, to ease you into the world of mocktails and alcohol-free living, we asked our talented bar team to share their most-loved non-alcoholic cocktail that can be mixed up whenever the sun shines this summer…
Easy Elderflower No-jito: A sweet and refreshing, alcohol-free Mojito recipe without any guilt or hangover
Ingredients
Sugar syrup* (around 25ml per person, plus a little extra to finish)
Elderflower Presse (enough for your tumbler or pitcher of choice)
Dash of soda water
Lime wedges
Handful of fresh mint
Crushed ice
Method
Add most of the mint to a mixing glass or shaker and crush lightly with a muddler or spoon
Pour in the sugar syrup, a squeeze of lime juice, the elderflower presse and stir
Pour into a highball glass or pitcher filled with crushed ice and top up with a little soda water
Garnish with the remaining lime wedges and fresh mint, sit back in the sunshine and enjoy
Our Tips
From garden to garnish: We harvest our mint to use in our refreshing cocktails from our very own garden; wild mint grows well from late-spring to mid-autumn so it’s easy to keep an abundant supply handy for all your summer cocktails.
Elderflower isn’t always to everyone’s taste, so we also serve a few variants on an alcohol-free mojito at Bedruthan. Why not try substituting the elderflower for a rich Polgoon apple juice, a zingy Sicilian lemonade, or even a tangy ginger ale. Any sparkling fruit juice would work with this recipe too, so give whatever you have to hand in the fridge a go!
*We also love how low cost and quick this mocktail is to make; you can even make your own sugar syrup at home and store for all your summer parties (as long as you make in a sterilised jar or bottle, it should keep for a good couple of weeks).
Keep an eye out for part two of The Mocktail Mix, where we’ll be sharing a new recipe and more tips for sober curious minds. Cheers to that!
