Why a Mocktail?

Because they are tasty, beautiful and hydrating, for starters…

With a mocktail, you’ve got to think like a chef. The ingredients need to stand up by themselves and work together. The possibilities are limitless. All assumptions about how a beverage should taste get tossed out the window when you remove the common denominator of alcohol. This, to me, is what makes mocktails so exciting and ultimately more grown-up and sophisticated than their boozy counterparts. After a while, adding alcohol just starts to feel like cheating. I mean, you can add booze to any mocktail and it still works, but the same can’t be said for taking booze out of any cocktail. This is why I think that any bartender worth their sleeve garters should learn to throw mocks before cocks. Walk before you rum (so to speak).

You can add booze to any mocktail and it still works, but the same can’t be said for taking booze out of any cocktail.

A mocktail is also an opportunity to learn something about self-care. It’s like pouring a tiny bath for yourself in a pretty glass. Tasty, beautiful and hydrating, a mocktail is a reminder that you, too, deserve nice things, regardless of your budget. It’s also about learning that making healthier choices for yourself is the opposite of deprivation. It’s the carrot and not the stick. Taking a night, a week or a month off drinking is something to celebrate. Well done you! Allow me to offer many crisp high fives and even more crisp and delicious beverages…

Reasons to make a mocktail:

You’re taking the night, week or month off
You’re on antibiotics
You’re pregnant
You’re allergic to alcohol
You’re doing a fitness challenge
You don’t like how alcohol tastes
You have sober guests coming over
Your tap water tastes like chlorine and pennies
You have a big drug test to pass and you can’t find clean urine on the black market
Your dog has been giving you really judgy looks lately
You’re worried about getting kidney stones
You’re a total badass

About the Author

JoAnne H. Pearce is an Edmonton-based graphic designer and marketing consultant. She started making mocktails as a way to keep her hands busy every day at 5pm during a 90 day alcohol-free challenge. The habits stuck — both of living sober and inventing mocktails — and this first edition of Mock-Ups is the result.

JoAnne believes that just about everything is an invitation to be creative, and she hopes Mock-Ups will inspire people to get a little weird in the kitchen. We all deserve to treat our tongues and tummies to delicious, surprising things. Preparing food and drink, like any endeavour, should be approached with an open-hearted sense of humour and adventure. She also hopes that this project will inspire the sober-curious to see abstention as something exciting, rather than an exercise in ‘white knuckling’ deprivation. As the very existence of Mock-Ups proves, sober life can have some surprising results and lead to unexpected destinations.

No matter what your inspiration or motivation, she hopes you enjoy Mocking It Up!