Fancy Alcohol-Free Cocktails For A Friday Night Treat In January

Nothing makes a stint on the wagon look more appealing than a raucous December. You might find you want to go easier on the booze in January even if you aren’t going in for a fully dry one. All you need to make this work is few jolly drinks in your armoury. Here, we’ve concocted a list of our favourites.

Nogroni

BBC Good Food


This ingenious recipe uses an easy syrup made of grapefruit, orange, caster sugar, cardamom pods and coriander seeds (with an optional few drops of red food colouring) as a base that is served over ice with white grape juice and a slice of orange. The result is a truly fantastic dupe.

Mint and Cucumber Sparkler

Rosemary Ferguson



It is hard not to want to do everything that nutritionist and functional medical practitioner Rosemary Ferguson does. She combines being friends with Kate Moss and married to super-cool artist Jake Chapman with thoughtful motherhood, radiant beauty and an enviable sense of balance. When she doesn’t want to drink alcohol, she opts for this alternative: a heady mixture of fizzy water, cucumber slices, fresh mint, cinnamon, star anise, cloves, honey and lime or lemon wedges.

Mango Mule

Danielle Walker


Walker, a passionate pioneer in a grain-free lifestyle and New York Times bestselling author, has this excellent recipe for a booze-free Moscow Mule in her repertoire. A simple symphony of mango puree, cucumber and ginger beer and lime juice, it is the most spoiling mocktail imaginable.

Everleaf Spritz

Julius Roberts



Hot chef cum smallholder cum cookery writer Julius Roberts advocates for Everleaf’s Forest aperitif, which is a blend of sustainably sourced botanicals including saffron, vanilla and honeyed orange blossom. He pours it over ice, tops it up with a fiery ginger beer and finishes with a wedge of orange. ‘An unbelievably delicious and refreshing spritz.’

Virgin Mary

The Spruce Eats


There are weekend brunches and lunches when nothing but a Bloody Mary will do – or so you might have thought. In fact, with a little care and nuance, a Virgin Mary perfectly hits the spot. This one, from Spruce Eats, includes all the usual suspects (tomato juice, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, celery salt, freshly ground black pepper, Tabasco or Cholula, stalk celery and pickle spear) and wisely urges you to feel you way with the seasoning and only add to taste.

See You on Wednesday

Natasha David


In her book Drink Lightly, Natasha David says of this mocktail: ‘This is every juicy, spicy, savory dream wrapped up in a festive salt-speckled bow.’ Created to fill the gap that a Margarita might leave behind, it requires nothing but a cocktail shaker, willpower and a list of fiery ingredients including jalapeño slices, coriander, agave nectar, celery juice, lime juice and salt.

Becky Ladenburg
January 2024