mocktail is a term that is often used for a nonalcoholic cocktail; although it appears intermittently beginning in the 1910s, it did not reach wide usage the 1970s, when it was popularized by John Doxat (1914–2002), the British journalist and publicist who was the leading drinks writer of his day. Mocktails are intended to be consumed in lieu of an alcoholic drink and should be a tasty, thoughtful combination of ingredients that offers an enjoyable degree of complexity; additionally, mocktails traditionally use a presentation—color, glassware, garnish—that is designed to recall an alcoholic drink. Many point to the Shirley Temple (ginger ale, grenadine, and sometimes orange juice) as being one of the first examples of the genre, but the concept predates the drink by at least a century.
How to Mix Drinks by Jerry Thomas (1862) was the first published mixed drinks book to include recipes for cocktails, but it also offered nonalcoholic options. In fact, one of the thirteen cocktail recipes it offers, the Soda Cocktail, is nonalcoholic, and the book’s final chapter offers fifteen more recipes for “temperance drinks,” among them such drinks as Lemonade, Orangeade, the Imperial Drink for Families, and Ginger Wine. See Thomas, Jeremiah P. “Jerry”. Many of the bartending manuals that followed Thomas’s book included nonalcoholic drinks as well.
Mocktails are also sometimes known as “virgin” cocktails. Typically, these are well-known cocktails with the alcohol left out. The most popular virgin drink is probably the Virgin Mary, prepared as a standard Bloody Mary but with the vodka omitted. See Bloody Mary. The recipe works well in this regard, with the combination of spices, bright acidity, and meaty umami flavor from the tomato juice providing a high degree of satisfaction despite the absence of alcohol (in the late 1970s, New York magazine repeatedly caught Maxwell’s Plum, a wildly popular bar, selling Bloody Marys that had no vodka in them at all; its customers never noticed).
While the temperance movement lost most of its momentum following the repeal of Prohibition, the mocktail found its place not outside the bar world but within it. A thoughtful mocktail is suitable for those who don’t want to consume alcohol: pregnant women, designated drivers, and those with alcohol issues can all benefit from an alternative that still fits the pattern and ambiance that accompanies cocktails and other mixed drinks. Modern bartenders frequently seek to round out their cocktail lists with mocktails that display the same unique flavor combinations, complexity, and attractive presentation that their cocktails do.
Finally, it must be noted that there are still many who refuse to use the term “mocktail,” regarding it as silly and made up; they have yet to suggest anything better.
See Prohibition and temperance movements.
Allen, Frederick. “Bloody Mary Blood Test no. 5: No Booze at Maxwell’s Plum.” New York, March 26, 1979, 9.
Doxat, John. The World of Drinks and Drinking. New York: Drake, 1971, 158.
Thomas, Jerry. How to Mix Drinks. New York: Dick & Fitzgerald, 1862.
By: Audrey Saunders