5 Alcohol-Free Cocktail Recipes for the Holidays

Want to enjoy festive tipples without booze? Here are 5 alcohol-free cocktail recipes to try!

For most of us, our student days of hard drinking are a distant, booze-fogged memory of carefree abandon – pre-husbands, kids and alarm clocks! Now with little ones getting us up all night not to mention our bodies getting creakier as we age, it’s just so much harder to deal with hangovers! Alcohol is directly linked to significantly increased risks of heart disease, strokes and liver disease, as well as seven different types of cancer. It is thought to cause one in every 13 cases of breast cancer in the UK. There’s also the effect on our mental health: being short-tempered with the kids, getting rubbish low-quality sleep, having negative thoughts and worries, and generally feeling low after a batch of boozy nights. So you’re convinced on drinking less or want to go alcohol-free for the upcoming festive season, but now what? What do you drink when everyone else is knocking back cocktails?

We shake up 5 different cocktails to try – all of them alcohol-free!

1. Alternative Egg Nog

Deliciously creamy with cinnamon and dates, you won’t miss the real thing at all!

Serves 1
Ingredients
60ml Lyre’s Amaretti
60ml Oat Milk*
30ml Coconut Cream
15ml Date Syrup
1 pinch Cinnamon
1 drop Vanilla Extract (optional)
*Can be substituted with dairy-free milk of choice.

Method
Add all ingredients to a blender and pulse until frothy. Serve cold or warm in a French wine glass. Garnish with freshly grated Nutmeg. Enjoy!

Read more: What Do You Drink When You’re Not Drinking? Alcohol-Free Spirits for ‘Non-Drinkers’

2. Christmas Cranberry Cocktail

This Christmassy cocktail is made with alcohol-free spirit Brunswick Aces Spades Sappir (available from Singapore’s first alcohol-free bottle shop Free Spirit), and is the taste of Christmas in a glass!

Serves 1
Ingredients
50ml New London Light Gin
1 x 200ml bottle Fevertree or another good quality tonic
4 black peppercorns
3 strips cucumber

Method
Fill a gin glass with ice, dropping in the cucumber strips and peppercorns. Pour over the NLL Gin and top up with tonic.

4. Lemongrass and Ginger Fizz

A nod to the Asian flavours, this lemon ginger fizz is chock full of antioxidants thanks to the ginger and honey and it has lovely refreshing citrus notes from the fresh lemon.

Makes enough for 4-5 glasses
Ingredients
5cm piece of ginger, peeled and cut into strips
2 sticks of lemongrass, bashed, cut into 3 pieces each
2 large lemons
2 tbsp runny honey
1 litre soda water
2 cans of ginger ale

Method
Place the ginger, lemongrass, and honey into a heatproof jug. Squeeze the juice from the lemons into the jug and then cut the halves into quarters and add them. Pour over 125ml of boiling water and muddle all together with the end of a rolling pin or pestle. Leave to infuse for as long as possible.

You can either remove the aromatics at this stage or for a more rustic end result, simply transfer everything into a large jug.  Add plenty of ice.  Pour over the fizzy water and ginger ale.  Give a gentle stir with a wooden spoon and serve using a small strainer or wooden spoon as a barrier.

5. Virgin Mary

You’ll need good quality tomato juice for this one, or better yet whizz up your own juice with some fresh tomatoes!

Makes 2
Ingredients
400ml good quality tomato juice
1-2 dashes of Worcestershire sauce
3-4 drops of tabasco sauce
Squeeze lime juice
2 pinches celery salt (optional)
One grind pepper or ¼ tsp horseradish (or both!)

Method
In a jug combine the above ingredients and stir well. Taste, adding more seasoning or heat depending on your taste. Fill two long glasses with ice and pour over the virgin Mary mix. Add a small stick of celery to each and serve.

Enjoy and relish waking up with no hangover!