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Matt Mount noticed it just like everybody else who pours drinks for a living.
A well-traveled Portland bartender (Colosso, Paley’s Place) who spent many years at House Spirits (the original creators of Aviation Gin, and now called Westward Whiskey), Mount currently mixes up the medicine for his own company Merit Badge, a craft cocktail and bar catering service.
When you’re serving 150 people at a wedding or office party, or even more than that at public events like the Portland Night Market, you’re also getting real-time market research on tastes and trends. Things like, “all of a sudden everyone wants Ranch Water,” or “White Claw is completely over.”
The most undeniable trend of the past few years, even going back to before the COVID-19 pandemic, is that people want more sophisticated non-alcoholic drinks—and a wider range of options beyond bitters and soda, or lemonade with ginger beer.
“Just a well-made, good-tasting, non-alcoholic drink,” Mount says. “It’s become a movement, and everyone has their own reasons for it.”
Merit Badge began offering such drinks as the Cucumber Cooler (Sōm Cucumber Mint Lime Cane Vinegar Cordial with lemon, ginger syrup and soda) at events. And then, in 2020, when bars and restaurants were shut down, Mount began consulting for the non-alcoholic concept Suckerpunch, both on its at-home kits and its Goat Blocks pop-up.
You’ll find non-alcoholic drinks at myriad Portland restaurants these days. But here are six pieces of advice from Mount if you also want to expand your home bar repertoire.
1. Keep It Fresh
If you’re going to the trouble of making your own drink, you always want to use fresh juice or herbs. But even more so when it’s zero-proof. “You can get a lot of movement with that,” Mount says. “A lot of flavors.”
Citrus, of course, adds both brightness and acidity. To put a boost of heat and spice on people’s palates, consider juicing a jalapeño (carefully! And use judiciously). Pressed celery juice is also something that can balance a drink with sharp ingredients, while also adding dilution—yep, you still have to consider dilution in non-alcoholic cocktails!—in lieu of plain water or soda.
2. Think Like a Cook
In terms of both technique and tasting, “don’t just come at it like it’s a cocktail,” Mount says. “Actually be like, I’m cooking here! I’m making a small meal. How am I going about it to keep those flavors interesting? What am I adding together, what’s happening [with] texture and flavor, how dynamic is this? Are the flavors battling, or are they working together well?”
One great tool to help with that is something Mount calls “my all-time trade secret,” though it’s no secret in most restaurant kitchens: Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg’s 2008 book The Flavor Bible, an encyclopedia of ingredients and potential combinations and applications.
3. Take a Cue From Vegetarians and Vegans
If the best plant-based cooking is about letting vegetables, legumes and grains just be themselves rather than a substitute for meat, so it can be for zero-proof.
Sure, some people are still seeking out non-alcoholic drinks that remind them of a favorite classic cocktail, and others can still have so-called non-alcoholic drinks with trace amounts of alcohol (as with all but a few brands of bitters). But some people don’t want that at all, and that can mean different kinds of flavors and drinking experiences for anyone and everyone. That’s what Mount is most excited about, both culinarily and philosophically.
“It’s hard not to reference a cocktail,” he says. “We’re still saying ‘zero-proof,’ or ‘mocktail.’ But where I think it’s awesome and fun and new is when we don’t look at it that way.”
4. More Is More With Spirit Replacers
While there are all kinds of faux whiskeys, wine alternatives and, of course, low- or no-alcohol beers, Mount also prefers to view a product like Portland’s Wilderton Lustre (an orange, tarragon and lavender nonbotanical spirit) as a completely new ingredient.
“It’s fun just to be like, what is this? How does this work?” he says. “What am I going to add to it? How do I not bury it, and how do I play off of it? Let’s keep this flavor going.”
And while spirit replacers can and do emulate certain notes of liquor (spice, botanicals, caramelized sweetness), you don’t get the same body or texture. So instead of using 1.5 to 2 ounces in a cocktail, as one might with wine or whiskey, Mount has used as much as 3 ounces of Wilderton in a recipe, to boost the drink’s viscosity and mouthfeel.
5. One Secret Ingredient: Verjus
A byproduct of wine-making made from unripened grapes (giving it the added bonus of utilization and sustainability), verjus is entirely non-alcoholic, less tart than vinegar, and excellent for both cooking and cocktail-making.
“It has great texture, and a great body, without being too sweet,” Mount says. “It doesn’t really taste like wine or grape juice—it just has another dimension to it. You can use it as a base, [and it’s] good for sipping.”
Mount’s favorite local verjus comes from Oregon’s Montinore Estate winery, but that is seasonal and limited (you can try to find it online or at Providore Fine Foods when the time is right). A more common, nationally available brand is OliveNation’s Verjus du Perigord.
6. Now Make Some Drinks!
After our initial interview, I told Mount what sort of things I already had around the house, and he came back with a few flavor combinations and potential cocktails. You will have to do a bit of cooking, pressing and experimentation on your own (including ratios and measurements). Here are the combinations he suggested:
• Stephen Smith ginger tea concentrate, lime juice and turmeric cardamom syrup, topped with sparkling apple cider.
• Kombucha (depending on flavor, but spicy and citrusy works for this drink), celery, and pressed lemon wedges (to get the lemon oils in the drink), with an orange peel garnish.
• PG Tips tea concentrate, maple simple syrup, pressed fresh sage, Angostura orange bitters, and black walnut bitters, served tall with a splash of soda.