Four Mocktail Recipes You Need to Try

Alternate Title: I Tried Dry January and This is What Happened (with Four Amazing Mocktails You Need to Try)

This January I did two things that I swore I would never do, things that are way outside of my comfort zone and that I had previously lumped into “that’s for insane people” category. I tried both Vegan January AND Dry January. In one month. At the same time.

So, maybe I am, in fact, insane. Because that’s a lot.

Now, we’ll talk about Vegan January in an upcoming post, but I wanted to first dive deep into the Dry January thing. Mainly because it’s the more controversial of the two and the one I got the most, shall we say, constructive feedback about. Because it turns out that people have very strong opinions about dry anything. VERY strong. And they’re not afraid to voice them, loudly, when you casually mention that you’re not drinking. It was shocking and disconcerting how passionately people would challenge me on this. But then again, alcohol is a challenging subject. No matter how much we try to normalize it.

Let me give you a little backstory.

I’m being a teensy bit disingenuous when I tell you that I participated in Dry “January.” Mostly because I have been dry since November. *insert shocked gasps from the crowd here* If I’m being honest with you, I’ll tell you that this wasn’t a conscious “I’m going to stop drinking right now” moment. Nor was it precipitated by any great intervention or reckoning based on overuse and addiction. Instead, I just gradually stopped because I was noticing alcohol that wasn’t really working for me anymore. Health issues were popping up that I couldn’t wrap my head around or fix, no matter how hard I tried. And as I started noticing my body more in an attempt to get to the root of these problems, I noticed that alcohol made these nagging health issues got exponentially worse.

Without exception.

Now I don’t want to get into all of the nitty-gritty about the things going on. Mostly because while most of my readers are female, some are not, and I don’t want to send the dudes in the house into a tailspin. But I will say that being a 42-year-old woman has made my hormones go a little wonky and things about myself that have always been steady–such as my weight, my ability to sleep like the dead the moment my head hits the pillow until the moment my alarm goes off, and my body’s temperature control functions–are no longer. Meaning, I’m gaining weight I can’t reckon (and like weird weight, not just “I eat for a living” weight), I can’t sleep anymore, and I sweat a lot, especially at night.

It’s terrifying.

The one that bothers me the most, dear friends, is the sleep.  I am a big fan of sleep. Like, HUGE. I have a napping corner in our couch that no one is allowed to sit in lest they receive the beating of a lifetime.* I am an unapologetic early-to-bed gal, who loves her full eight-plus nights of shut-eye.

Sleep and I, we’re besties. Always have been and up until a few months ago, I was convinced we always would be.

And when sleep disappeared, I could not hack life, y’all. Some people, like my husband, do really well when they don’t get a full eight hours. Some people, like my son, seem to thrive on mere slivers of sleep rather than whole slices. Me? I am not one of those people. So this lack of sleep, this middle of the night insomnia, was not serving me. I became a strung-out version of myself. Which, if is not a pretty picture.

I tried everything to make it better. I mean everythang….I dropped melatonin like candy. Which, since they’re gummies, is a fair argument, but whatever. I tried a CBD spray and had mild success with it, though not as much as I hoped. I busted through my disdain for tea and started drinking a big old cup of Sleepytime Chamomile before bed. I turned the screens off. I tried white noise. I prayed. I did it all. Some things worked and then stopped working. Some things worked not at all. And some things were mixed. But nothing got me that solid dead to the world sleep that I crave.

So I started digging deeper. I spent hours on Pinterest, Google, and WebMD. I started doing the math and making the calculations and figuring out that this was most likely perimenopause, as tough a pill as that was to swallow.  But I did realize that this was hormonal, completely normal, and if I wanted relief without resorting to artificial hormonal intervention, I had to work on my diet, my exercise habits, and my alcohol consumption.

Wait. What? Alcohol Consumption? Have you lost your dang mind?

Yes. Alcohol consumption. In the middle of a pandemic. Alcohol. Mother’s little helper. Mommy Juice. Our afternoon glass of wine. The thing we drink to make us and everyone around us funnier, prettier, and easier to tolerate. I had to face the hard truth that it wasn’t serving me anymore. In fact, as I started to pay attention to it, I realized that the nights I had even the smallest glass of wine were the nights I would wake up at 2 am drenched in sweat, heart racing, and unable to even dream of falling back asleep. It wasn’t working for me.

So I just stopped.

This was both easier and harder than it sounds. It was easy because I’m a relative homebody and most of my alcohol consumption was one glass of wine while making dinner or after the kids go to bed. Cutting this out wasn’t painful and caused no major shifts in my lifestyle as a whole. It was harder, though, in social settings because in mom culture it seems to be a given that wine will be woven into our interactions, deeply. This, of course, is likely a topic for a whole separate piece, but let’s suffice to say that it was sticky at times and I still haven’t quite figured out how to navigate saying “NO,” even as an old middle-aged lady.

Those weird and strange social interactions aside, not drinking has done some pleasant things for my health. I am definitely more clear-headed at all times. I sleep better, though not perfectly, but better at least. And a lot of my unpleasant belly bloat has subsided. I also, in general, feel more in tune with myself. I don’t fall asleep on the couch at 8 pm, dead to the world, because the wine knocked me out. Overall, I just feel lighter.

And while I’m hesitant to say that this will work for everyone or that it’s even the right choice for everyone, I will say that I think we need to normalize not drinking just as much as we normalize drinking. We need to make it ok for people to say that they’re sticking with water (or tea or whatever) and not take it as an attack on the choices we make. And, and I’m speaking directly to you friends, I want to tell you that it’s ok to take a hard look at the things in your life that aren’t serving you anymore and make changes accordingly. In fact, it’s more than okay. It’s necessary. What works when you’re 20 and 30 might not work when you’re 40. And that’s not a failure and it doesn’t mean anything is wrong with you. Your body goes through stages and honoring them by being mindful of “hey, this makes me feel great” or “this really makes me feel like s**t” is one of the healthiest things you can do for yourself.

Trust me.

Four Mocktail Recipes You Need to Try (right now)

Now, Let it be known that just because I gave up alcohol I did not instantly give up the idea of having a special drink in my hand on certain occasions. Nor do I think anyone should have to sacrifice fun for sobriety. And that is why I teamed up with my absolute favorite bartender friend, The Artist Behind The Bar, and asked him to create four mocktail recipes you need to try right now. And MAN, did he deliver.

If you don’t know, The Artist Behind the Bar is a local bartender in Frisco who is hands and feet above any other bartender I’ve ever met. He is a true artist. He makes his own crystal clear cubed ice for his world-renowned Old Fashioneds, and he will take any cocktail request and truly work until he’s perfected it. And trust me, he has high standards.

So when I asked him to do this, he was all in. It’s a misconception that you have to have alcohol in a mixed drink for it to be fun or tasty or exciting and his recipes prove that. A tried and true Bloody Mary Recipe perfect for brunch or any day you want to drink your veggies but not be a grandpa about it. A Blueberry Mojito that is absolutely stunningly fresh and delicious. A Virgin Paloma that brings all of my grapefruit dreams to life and, finally, a Raspberry Bee’s Knees that is literally begging for a pool and summertime. All of these recipes are amazing. All are perfectly laid out so you can make them at home and all of them put the fun in Mocktail.

So check out these Four Mocktail Recipes You Need to Try and let us know which is your favorite. Also, don’t forget to follow The Artist Behind the Bar on Insta. He shares amazing recipes, tips, and tricks to get your cocktail game going strong.

Peace, love, and being sober,

Meg

*no one actually receives beatings in our house. Calm yourselves down.

Virgin Bloody Mary Mocktail

January 29, 2021

Servings: 1

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By: Meaghan Dawson

Ingredients

• 2 dashes celery salt
• 4.5 ounces tomato juice
• 3-10 dashes Tobasco (depending on how spicy you want it)
• .5 ounces Worcestershire Sauce
• .25 ounces Lemon Juice
• .25 ounces Olive Brine

Directions

• Step 1 Shake all ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice.
• Step 2 Strain into a glass filled with ice and top with some coarse ground black pepper.
• Step 3 Garnish with olives and a celery stalk.

Blueberry Mojito

January 29, 2021

Servings: 1

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By: Meaghan Dawson

Ingredients

• 6-8 Mint Leaves
• Handful of Fresh Blueberries
• 2 ounces lime juice
• 2 ounces simple syrup
• Splash of Club Soda

Directions

• Step 1 Lightly muddle blueberries.
• Step 2 Add all ingredients to a shaker with ice. Shake to combine.
• Step 3 Pour over ice into a glass, garnish with more blueberries and fresh mint sprigs.

Virgin Paloma Mocktail

January 29, 2021

Servings: 1

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By: Meaghan Dawson

Ingredients

• 1.5 ounces grapefruit juice (fresh if possible)
• 1-ounce pomegranate juice
• .5 ounce simple syrup OR Agave syrup
• Soda water (grapefruit, lime or plain)
• salt and lime to garnish

Directions

• Step 1 Combine all ingredients except soda water and garnish in a shaker with ice.
• Step 2 Stir to combine.
• Step 3 Pour into a collins glass filled with ice and top with soda water.
• Step 4 Garnish with sliced lime and a salted rim.

Raspberry Bees Knees Mocktail

January 29, 2021

Servings: 1

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By: Meaghan Dawson

Ingredients

• 1 ounce filtered water
• .5 ounces lemon juice (preferably fresh squeezed)
• .5 ounces honey
• .5 ounces simple syrup
• a handful of fresh raspberries plus a few for garnish
• Soda Water

Directions

• Step 1 Muddle a handful of raspberries in a glass.
• Step 2 Strain them, leaving just the juice in the glass.
• Step 3 Add remaining ingredients (except soda water) with ice to a cocktail shaker and shake to combine.
• Step 4 Pour into a glass filled with ice and top with soda water.
• Step 5 Garnish with 2-3 raspberries.

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