10 Delicious Mocktail Recipes for Bartenders

Similarly to knowing a few popular shot recipes this year, it’s always useful to know some great-tasting mocktail recipes. Not everyone that enters your bar will want to drink alcohol. Whether it’s because they’re pregnant, they’re underage, it’s dry July, or they’ve quit alcohol altogether, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t give these guests the same attention and care you would give your alcohol drinking ones. That’s what being hospitable is all about.

Still, non-alcoholic drinks are often neglected in most bar programs. To makeup for that, I’ve created a list of ten great tasting mocktail recipes to help you get your creative juices flowing. Some of these recipes are more interesting than others, but often that means they require more exotic ingredients.

So to make these recipes as accessible as possible, most of them can be made behind the majority of bars that make basic cocktails. Here’s what we will be covering:

1. Atlantis
2. Berry Crush
3. Lemon, Lime & Bitters
4. Mockito (Virgin Mojito)
5. Pineapple Ginger Beer
6. Pussy Foot
7. Shirley Temple
8. St Kitts
9. Virgin Paloma
10. Virgin Sour

Keep in mind that the rule “fresh is always better” is especially important for mocktail recipes because the alcohol is often substituted for more fruit or fruit juice. As such, using fresh ingredients is key to making great tasting mocktails.

Note: Most popular cocktails can be into mocktails, especially the ones that use a white spirit as their base ingredient. For these cocktails, simply swap out the white spirit for a subtle tasting juice, like cloudy apple juice, and the liqueur for a similar syrup, in equal proportions, and you’ll have re-created the non-alcoholic version. It won’t taste as good as the original, but it’s a great trick to remember if you forget your bar’s mocktail recipes or you have a customer that is looking for something specific. You’ll see this practice in action with the Mockito recipe below.

Atlantis

This is one of the most delicious mocktail recipes I’ve ever tasted. It’s balanced, complex, and it uses interesting ingredients that even the most sophisticated mocktail drinkers will enjoy. The only problem is watermelon isn’t a commonly used ingredient in most bar programs. And it doesn’t make sense to stock it just for this drink because it probably won’t be ordered often enough. But, if your bar program does already use watermelon, add this to your list – it’s incredible!

Serve in a Collins glass

• 4 watermelon chunks
• 4 mint leaves
• 1/2 shot fresh lime juice
• 1/4 shot elderflower syrup
• 1 shot cloudy apple juice
• Top with ginger beer
• 1 mint sprig and 1 lime wedge for garnish

Muddle watermelon chunks & mint leaves in the Boston. Add juice & syrup. Shake and strain into an ice-filled collins glass. Top with ginger beer. Add the garnishes.

Berry Crush

This is another fantastic mocktail recipe that was incredibly popular at one of the bars I used to work at. Like the Atlantis, the only problem you’ll encounter with this drink is that you need to stock mixed berries in order to make it.

Serve in a Collins glass

• 1 spoon of mixed berries
• 2 shots cranberry juice
• 1/2 shot fresh lime juice
• 1/4 shot strawberry syrup
• Top with club soda
• 1/2 strawberry for garnish

Muddle berries in a Boston. Add juice & syrup. Shake hard & dump into a collins glass. Top with soda. Add the garnish.

Lemon, Lime & Bitters

Technically not a mocktail because it calls for bitters which contain alcohol, the overall alcoholic content is so small, that it barely counts. It’s a very easy drink to make so it’s great to have in your repertoire. This is an extremely popular mocktail in Australia, but there’s no reason why it shouldn’t be popular elsewhere – so spread the word!

Serve in a Highball glass

• 1/2 shot lime cordial
• Top with Sprite
• 3 dashes Angostura bitters
• 1 lemon wedge for garnish

Add sprite to an ice-filled highball glass. Float lime cordial on top. Add 3 dashes of Angostura bitters. Add the garnish.

Mockito (Virgin Mojito)

The mojito is one of the most popular cocktails in the world so it makes sense to know how to make a non-alcoholic version as well. This virgin mojito is made by replacing the rum with cloudy apple juice. This replacement works for all variations of the mojito. For example, to make a virgin strawberry mojito, you would replace the rum with cloudy apple juice. And if it contained strawberry liqueur, you would replace the ginger liqueur with strawberry syrup.

Serve in a Collins glass

• 3-4 lime wedges
• 6-8 fresh mint leaves
• 2 shots cloudy apple juice
• 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
• Top with club soda
• 2-3 mint sprigs for garnish

Muddle the lime wedges with the granulated sugar in the bottom of a collins glass. Clap the mint leaves then add them to the glass with the cloudy apple juice. Fill with crushed ice and stir thoroughly. You want the mint leaves scattered throughout the glass so it’s more visually appealing. Top with soda water. Crown with crushed ice. Slap the mint sprigs on the side of your hand and add them as the garnish.

Pineapple Ginger Beer

This is a refreshing, non-boozy take on the Dark ’n’ Stormy cocktail. It replaces the rum with pineapple juice & adds some extra ginger syrup. It’s another great mocktail recipe to add to your repertoire because it uses commonly available ingredients.

Serve in a Collins glass

• 1 1/2 shots pineapple juice
• 1 shot fresh lime juice
• 1 shot ginger syrup
• Top with ginger beer
• 1 lime wedge for garnish

Shake & strain the first 3 ingredients into an ice-filled collins glass. Top with ginger beer. Add the garnish.

Pussyfoot

A famous prohibition mocktail, ironically, it was given the name pussyfoot because of how people viewed those who would drink non-alcoholic cocktails. To this day, it’s still one of the most well-known non-alcohol drinks out there, which makes it an essential mocktail every bartender should know.

Served in a Collins glass

• 3 shots orange juice
• 1 shot fresh lemon juice
• 1 shot fresh lime juice
• 1/2 shot grenadine
• 1/2 shot simple syrup
• 1 small egg yolk
• 1 orange slice for garnish

Shake & strain all the ingredients into an ice-filled collins glass. Add the garnish.

Shirley Temple

Commonly served to children dining in restaurants in replacement of real cocktails, this is an essential mocktail to know for the restaurant bartender. It’s believed to have originated in the 1930s in Hollywood, the name coming from the former Iconic child star, Shirley Temple. Funnily enough, she dislikes the mocktail, describing it as far too sweet. 

Serve in a Highball glass

• 1/2 shot grenadine
• 1/2 shot fresh lemon juice
• Top with ginger ale
• 1 cherry & 1 lemon wedge for garnish

Build in an ice-filled highball glass. Top with ginger ale & lightly stir. Add the garnish.

St. Kitts

I’ve made several variations of this mocktail throughout my career, often under the guise of a different name – one of them being called the ‘St Kilda Fling.’ It’s a good drink to know because it’s simple. If you have the choice though, I suggest serving one of the other mocktails on this list over this one.

Served in a Highball glass

• 2 1/2 shots pineapple juice
• 1 shot fresh lime juice
• 1/2 shot grenadine
• Top with ginger ale
• 1 Lime wedge for garnish

Shake & strain into an ice-filled highball glass. Top with ginger ale. Add the garnish.

Virgin Paloma

A non-alcohol version of the Paloma cocktail, the agave syrup & grapefruit juice make it tasty & interesting.

Serve in a Collins glass

• 1 1/2 shots grapefruit juice
• 1 shot fresh lime juice
• 1 shot agave syrup
• Top with club soda
• Salt for salt rimmed glass
• 1 lime wedge for garnish

Shake & strain the first 3 ingredients into an ice-filled, half salt-rimmed collins glass. Top with club soda. Add the garnish.

Virgin Sour

This is another fantastic mocktail recipe that was really popular at one of the bars I used to work at. It’s a strong sweet & sour mix, so feel free to add more pineapple juice to lengthen it out. Personally, I love the bite this recipe has and so did our customers.

Serve in an Old-Fashioned glass

• 1 shot pineapple juice
• 1 shot lemon juice
• 1/2 shot peach syrup
• 1/2 shot almond syrup
• 1 pineapple wedge & cherry for garnishes

Shake hard & strain into an ice-filled old-fashioned glass. Add the garnishes.