This honey blackberry mint mocktail is refreshing, sweet (but not too sweet), delicious, and much healthier than a traditional cocktail… and best of all, it contains absolutely no refined sugar!
Don’t get me wrong- I love me a traditional cocktail. Zach makes a MEAN old fashioned and mint julep. I’m the cook in the family, but he is the cocktail expert- especially since we got the book Shake. (If you are looking for an awesome cocktail book, this is definitely the one you should get. This recipe was adapted from their “Blackberry Fence Hopper” drink.) But there are a number of reasons why cocktail (and alcohol, in general) intake should be limited. For one thing, alcohol is basically straight up sugar (which we all know is bad for you), and your body metabolizes it similarly to how it would lots of refined sugar. For another thing, it can put burden on your liver to detox your body. And another- it’s recommended that females have no more than one alcoholic beverage per day, and males have no more than two (minus one point, nature).
When I did the Whole30 in January, I absolutely noticed the difference that alcohol makes for me and my well-being. When I reintroduced wine after my thirty days were complete, I slept horribly that night. And ever since, I notice myself waking up periodically throughout the night if I have any alcohol before bed. Enter: Honey Blackberry Mint Mocktails. Perfect for sitting on the porch in the warm springtime weather, enjoying life. Perfect for parties as a non-alcoholic option. Perfect for your high schooler’s graduation party or anyone under 21 in your life. The ingredients are simple: honey, fresh blackberries, fresh mint leaves (all muddled to a delicious pulp), lemon juice, water, and seltzer. Seltzer is important here- do not confuse it with tonic water. Tonic is sweetened (and often has things like high fructose corn syrup in it), and seltzer is not! It’s basically just fizzy water. Much healthier than tonic water.
I recommend the following supplies for this recipe: a cocktail shaker and muddler. If you don’t have them, it’s not a problem- see notes in the recipe below for an alternative. And if you want these drinks to have a bit more of an adult kick, use two shots of vodka in place of the water :-) Or treat yourself to a rosemary greyhound cocktail or Mint Julep! The recipe below is for two servings. Simply double, triple, or quadruple the amounts if you need more. Enjoy!
