A Fun Little Mocktail

Here’s a quick post, just sharing a mocktail that I’m workshopping.¹

Recipe

• 2 oz. Lapsang souchong, brewed strong (around 1/2 as much water as normal)
• 3 oz. Ginger beer (I like Fever Tree)
• 1/2 oz. Rose vinegar

Add the ingredients to a high-ball glass with ice and stir. Garnish with candied ginger if you have it.

Explanation

My favorite cocktail is the Penicillin, and while this mocktail ends up pretty far away from that starting point, it does hit some of the same ginger-and-whiskey notes.

Lapsang souchong has become popular as a non-alcoholic replacement for Scotch for good reason—it’s smokiness really does scratch the same itch, especially in a cocktail with other interesting things going on.

Ginger beer adds sweetness and… ginger. I could have done a more “spirit forward” mocktail with a ginger syrup (as one would in a Pennicilin), but I think mocktails like that go by too quickly. The ginger beer lets me make a longer drink that I don’t finish in 5 minutes.

The rose vinegar is, admittedly, where things get a bit weird. I like it because it has a bit more bite than another acid like lemon juice would, which is helpful in a mocktail. Plus, the rose flavor adds an extra little bit of excitement. Of course, I don’t expect you have rose vinegar around (and I won’t for long either, I got mine at Noma and I don’t think I’ll be able to get more). I think lemon juice would be a perfectly reasonable option instead, but personally when I finish my rose vinegar I’m going to experiment a bit with other vinegars first. I’ll update this post if I find anything interesting.

---