AF (Alcohol Free) drink recipes from our followers

At Hello Sunday Morning, we believe in the importance of sharing and to be in a like-minded community as we journey to a better relationship with alcohol.

Last month, we shared our mocktail recipes and asked our community to participate and share their own favourite recipe. Here are our top picks of those recipes. Varied from a quick-fix mocktail to the time-consuming-but-totally-worth-the-wait drink mixer recipes, such as Shrub, a vinegar drink that requires time to develop flavours.

We hope that these recipes will open up endless possibilities to creativity and add fun to your journey to a healthy relationship with alcohol. Thanks to those who submitted these recipes.

AF Drink Mixer Recipes

These recipes require extra time to make them but it is definitely worth it!

Shrub

A recipe from Melanie Davies.

Shrub is an old English non-alcoholic cordial made from fruit, sugar and vinegar. You can make up your own fruit combinations, depending on what you like and what’s seasonal. It’s also a great way to use up fruit that’s a bit past its prime. The flavours are only limited by your imagination. You can use dark brown sugar, because it gives a richer flavour, but any sugar is fine. Use good quality apple-cider vinegar which has the ‘mother’ (the live culture) in it. Experiment with other types of vinegar, too.

The basic recipe is the same for all shrubs, so just adapt it to fit your ingredients and your taste.

Ingredients:

2 cups of ripe fruit

Selection of spices, herbs or other tasty things, according to your taste (ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, mint, basil, star anise, rosemary, kaffir lime leaves, pepper corns, chillies … the list is endless)

2 cups of sugar

2 cups of vinegar

Equipment:

1 large glass bowl or wide jug

1 large sieve or some clean muslin or cheesecloth to strain it in

1 large stainless steel, glass or enamel saucepan

1 potato masher or similar

1 large glass jar or bottle with lid

Method:

1. Peel fruit if necessary. If large, chop into halves or quarters and put into a large saucepan (not aluminium or it will react with the vinegar). I don’t bother to peel limes, but you can if you prefer. The skin adds delicious citrus oils which improve the flavour.

2. Add a generous amount of the spice or herb you are adding. At least ¼ of a cup. If using whole spices like cardamom pods or star anise, lightly crush them first to release the flavours. For fresh herbs like basil, add a cup full at the end of cooking, to preserve the flavour. If adding fresh ginger, use a large piece, peel and roughly chop it.

3. Add sugar and stir through the fruit, over a low heat until the fruit starts warming up. Try to smash and crush it a bit, using a potato masher or similar, to release the juices. Only add a tiny bit of water if your fruit isn’t very juicy (like limes).

4. Making sure the fruit doesn’t burn, gradually bring to the boil, crushing out more juices as the fruit softens. Let it boil for one or two minutes, then remove from heat and let it cool in the saucepan.

5. Once cool, add vinegar and mix it through. Put the saucepan in the fridge and let it sit for a day or two, to let the flavours develop.

6. After a couple of days, give the whole lot one more really good mashing with a potato masher, then pour it into a large sieve or into a large clean piece of cloth and strain it into a large bowl or wide jug. Pour into a clean glass bottle and refrigerate. Serve over ice diluted with sparkling water, a wedge of lime or a sprig of mint.

Melanie’s recommended flavour combinations:

• Mandarin, lime and ginger – add some kaffir lime leaves
• Strawberries, basil and balsamic vinegar – ¼ cup of balsamic, mixed with apple-cider vinegar
• Ruby grapefruit and cardamom – crush the cardamom first
• Lime and ginger – this isn’t juicy enough, so maybe use another juicier fruit as well (pears?)
• Orange and star anise – don’t be scared to use quite a bit of star anise
• Apple, pear and cardamom – nice but sweeter than the other combinations, without the tartness of citrus
• Mandarin, lime and raspberry – a nice accident find! It started with a punnet of raspberries that were a bit old and soft. They added so much flavour and colour!

Non-alcoholic Gin

This is our own non-alcoholic Gin version that we shared previously. Making a batch could be useful to get a different variety of mocktail recipes as a replacement for an alcoholic Gin.

Ingredients:

1 Chamomile tea bag

Spice mix (5-7 cardamom pods – bruise; 5 cloves; 1 star anise; 2 teaspoons of lemon zest – roughly from one small lemon and a sprig of rosemary – remove leaves)

½ cucumber – diced finely

½ cup of fresh mint leaves – keep some for garnish

Method:

Brew 1 chamomile tea bag with ½ cup of hot water (80°C is recommended), removed after 3 mins.

Add tea into a jug with spice mix, diced cucumber and fresh mint leaves, then top up with ½ cup cold water and keep in the fridge for 3-4 hours (or overnight)

Slightly Complex Recipes

Sanbittèr Spritz

This recipe came from one of our community members who came across a non-alcoholic Campari Mocktail from ‘Locale’ in Noosa. This recipe is an adaptation that she suggested.

Ingredients:

Ice

Sanbittèr* (Red soda aperitif by San Pellegrino with a taste similar to Campari but without alcohol)

Club soda

A dash of lemonade and non-alcoholic bitters (optional – alternatively you can use rosemary to replace bitters)

A slice of orange

Method:

Fill glass with ice, add Sanbittèr to ¾ full, top up with club soda and add a dash of lemonade and bitters. Stir through slowly and garnish with sliced orange

*Sanbittèr might be a bit hard to find, but your local Italian deli might have it. Quatro Deli in Chatswood, NSW stock some.

Midsummer Mocktail

Ingredients:

Ice

30 ml pineapple juice

30 ml grapefruit juice

Tonic water

Slices of lemon

Method:

Fill glass with ice, add juices and top with tonic water. Garnish with slices of lemon.

Virgin Mary with a twist

Ingredients:

Half a lime

30 ml grapefruit juice

Tabasco

Tomato juice

Ice

Method:

Rub lime around the rim of a tall glass, flip empty glass upside-down on a plate of salt to rim the glass. Squeeze the lime into the glass, add grapefruit juice and a dash of Tabasco (or more if you like it extra spicy), top with tomato juice. Stir and add ice.

Elderflower Lime

A recipe from Shelley.

Ingredients:

Crushed ice

Slices of lime

Elderflower cordial (Shelley’s suggestion: Belvoir Elderflower Presse)

Soda water

Method:

Fill glass with crushed ice and slices of lime, add Elderflower cordial (adjust sweetness to your taste) and top with soda water.

PLM Mocktail by Etch Sparkling

This recipe is one of the signature drinks served at Etch Sparkling launch party. Andy and Jason Quinn, founder of Etch are happy to share this with the HSM community.

Ingredients:

60 ml pineapple juice

15 ml blackberry juice

16 ml lime juice

3-4 sage leaves

Etch Sparkling – PLM

Method:

Add all ingredients to a shaker, fill with ice, shake hard and strain. Pour over into coupe glass (or any 210 ml glass). Top glass with Etch Sparkling PLM. You can garnish it with frozen blackberry and sage leaf.

Photo credit: Jules  from @willowcreative

Short and not too sweet recipes

Be Still, Palermo

This easy-to-make drink is perfect for those who don’t like fizzy drinks. A great suggestion from our community member who can’t have carbonated drinks due to health reasons. The best part is that Palermo Bianco is quite affordable compared to most non-alcoholic drink mixers.

Ingredients:

Ice

Palermo Bianco (quantity depending on your own preference)

water

Method:

Prepare glass with ice, pour Palermo Bianco over ice, add water to adjust flavour. You can add any herbs to enhance the botanical essence in Palermo.

Kombucha with blended berries

Ingredients:

I cup of frozen berries

Berry flavoured Kombucha

Method:

Blend frozen berries, transfer to serving glass and top with kombucha

Sparkling Pomegranate

From Sue, our friend from over the sea.

Ingredients:

Sparkling water

Ice

POM 100% Pomegranate juice

lime

Method:

Pour sparkling water into the serving glass over ice, for dramatic effect, slowly add pomegranate juice on top. Add a good squeeze of lime juice and use that for garnish as well. Stir and immediately consume!

G&T (Grapefruit & Tonic)

Literally just grapefruit juice and tonic water – we love the simplicity of it. This suggestion is from Nora, also from over the sea.

Ingredients:

Grapefruit juice

Tonic water

Method:

Fill half a glass with grapefruit juice and the rest with tonic water. Stir through. Simple!

Going to Australia Day BBQ with a BYO note?

Here are some zero-alcohol beers suggested by our community:

Asahi Dry Zero

Früh Kolsch 0.0 – for those who love the taste of Kolsch

Carlton Zero

Bitburger Drive

Tips:

Use stubby holder if you are not up, or not ready, to explain why you’re going AF this year.

Photo source: Unsplash – © Brooke Lark