The mocktail: more than just a drink, a true art of living
If mocktails are all the rage these days, it’s because a number of brands, like Vintense, are working hard to give them a new dimension.
Mocktails are ubiquitous on the menus of trendy cafΓ©s, but they’re not just for the elite. Here’s everything you need to know about these non-alcoholic cocktails and their many benefits.
What are mocktails?
A non-alcoholic cocktail for everyone
Mocktail is a play on words that comes straight from Great Britain. It comes from an association between the word cocktail, meaning an alcoholic drink made from a mixture of different elements, and the English verb to mock, meaning to imitate. A mocktail is an imitation of a cocktail, i.e. a cocktail without alcohol. It’s difficult to pinpoint its origins, but it seems to have been popularised across the Channel in the early 1980s.
Once reserved almost exclusively for pregnant women, for whom the consumption of alcohol was medically proscribed, the mocktail is now enjoyed by a wide cross-section of the population. The main attraction of the mocktail is that it is good for your health. In fact, it allows you to enjoy a refreshing, sophisticated drink without having to worry about the harmful effects of alcohol: drunkenness, loss of consciousness, intoxication, veisalgia. Thanks to mocktails, you can drink at any time of day, without losing control of yourself or the right to drive.
An essential drink in an alcohol-free society
More and more young people are saying no to alcohol
The source of numerous prevention campaigns by the state and health institutions, alcohol is not just a pleasure: it is a veritable scourge, both on an individual and societal level. In all cases, the sum of its harms far exceeds the sum of its benefits. Fortunately, more and more Belgians and young people around the world understand this and are beginning to break away from it.
Today, the trend is no longer to mock those who refuse to drink alcohol. On the contrary, it’s a demand that can be asserted clearly and proudly. Given the scale of this phenomenon, more and more bars and drinks brands are now offering alternatives to alcoholic beverages. Going without alcohol no longer has to mean having a bad night out. Thanks to mocktails, sobriety opens the door to a vast choice of attractive, tasty drinks that allow you to keep in touch with your epicurean side.
How to enjoy the best mocktails?
Develop your own non-alcoholic cocktail recipes
With a little imagination, anyone can develop their own mocktail recipe. In general, the best way to start is to follow the recipe of an existing cocktail and replace the alcohol with a non-alcoholic drink, such as fruit juice or soda. But why limit yourself to that? Mocktails offer almost infinite creative freedom and allow you to juggle a wide variety of flavours.
