Michelin-Starred Mocktails at Home
Beau Kelly-Fontano, Bar Director for Entente in Chicago.
For last month’s Holiday A-List, I included a couple of spirit-free cocktail recipes and the feedback was tremendous. I was touched by all the thank you’s I received for including people who don’t drink and it has inspired me to take it to the next level for Dry January. I’ll admit my forte is wine, not creating cocktails so I enlisted the help of a real professional this time, Beau Kelly-Fontano, Bar Director for the Michelin-Starred Entente. I spent the afternoon with him recently and he walked me through a tutorial on how to create extremely well-balanced and delicious spirit-free cocktails at home. As with all high-quality cocktails, these drinks do require a little bit of kitchen-work and some online ordering but nothing too taxing. I’ve included Beau’s swap-outs whenever possible. If you have any questions, feel free to email me or go straight to the oracle and visit Beau at the bar at Entente.
The peach syrup can be swapped out for other fruit flavors.
peach Phosphate
Phosphates may sound like something that will dissolve your bones but they are in fact an old-timey soda fountain drink. A few drops of acid phosphate will make a cocktail taste tart and sour without adding any extra flavor, unlike the citrus notes you get from lemon or lime juice. Beau showed me how to make a peach phosphate but he said this recipe can be adapted to almost any type of fruit. You can buy acid phosphate online or use regular lemon juice instead. For the soda water, Beau recommends Topo Chico. He said the bubbles last longer than other brands like San Pellegrino.
1.5 oz peach syrup (see below)
10 dashes acid phosphate or 3/4 oz lemon juice
Fill a collins glass with ice, add peach syrup and acid phosphate or lemon juice. Top with Topo Chico. Enjoy!
To make the peach syrup: combine 1 cup water and 1 cup sugar in a sauce pan and cook over medium heat until the sugar has dissolved. Add 10 oz of chopped frozen peaches to the simple syrup (or use an immersion blender to break up the peaches), bring the mixture to a slight boil then remove pan from the heat. Allow the mixture to macerate for 1-2 hours then strain the peaches. I used the leftover pulp to make overnight oats. Your peach syrup is now ready for use. Feel free to swap out the peaches for any other type of fruit. Let your imagination run wild and add different herbs and spices.
Seedlip is the world’s first non-alcoholic distilled spirit
the panhandle
For this recipe you will need a bottle of Seedlip Citrus Grove 42, a non-alcoholic spirit infused with citrus, spices and other botanicals. The fig syrup can be made using the same method as the peach syrup above . I used 1 cup of chopped white figs to 1 cup water and 1 cup sugar. This was my favorite drink that Beau made and I keep everything on hand so I can enjoy it at home, it’s truly delicious!
2 oz Seedlip Citrus Grove
3/4 oz fig syrup
1/4 oz lemon juice
Topo Chico
lemon, lime and orange peel for garnish
Fill a collins glass with ice, add the fig syrup, lemon juice, Seedlip Citrus Grove and top with Topo Chico. Garnish with citrus peels, stir and enjoy!
The 700 Club at Entente
The 700 Club
Beau was kind enough to give me the recipe for their signature spirit-free cocktail but it was more than I could pull off at home. It’s a tasty beverage featuring pea flower syrup, cucumber-mint lemonade and cucumber citrate (this is where he lost me). They also give you the option to add CBD oil which apparently is very popular with their customers. If you’re curious, you can visit Entente and give it a try along with their other delicious spirit-free offerings.