Mocktails Have Some Surprising Health Benefits—even For Drinkers

When John DeBarry started working as a bartender at the legendary New York cocktail bar Please Don't Tell in 2008, he noticed that customers sometimes asked for cocktails. To serve, created a quick cocktail or cocktail recipe. After a while he realized that offering cocktails increased liquor sales.

When he moved to head the cocktail program at the popular Momofuku restaurant, he set out to create an extensive list of mocktails.

When Debary began his career, the offer of alcohol was scarce and not very good. But recent years have seen an explosion of offerings, including non-alcoholic or low-alcohol versions of popular beers and increasingly sophisticated cocktails.

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But what is driving the growth of soft drinks? National Geographic spoke to experts about what mocktails really mean to our eating habits and how to make a mocktail that rivals the real thing.

What's behind the rise in alcohol consumption?

DeBary attributes his early success with mocktails to simple economics: "It's just a response to the latent demand that was already there," he says. Customers who, for one reason or another, didn't drink alcohol bought it because they wanted to enjoy a more sophisticated drink than soda or water.

However, DeBarry noted that interest in soft drinks has increased in recent years, especially after the 2020 Covid pandemic. He and other experts attribute this to growing awareness of alcohol's negative health effects and a desire to combat the epidemic. . consumption habits. and a growing interest in health and well-being. “In general, people are more concerned about their health,” says Professor John Holmes of the University of Sheffield, who studies alcohol consumption.

While some of this may be due to a desire to avoid alcohol's long-term health effects, such as liver disease, Holmes notes that the primary motivation for many people is to feel healthier every day. “People want to feel better and so they want to at least be able to drink when they're older without all the negative consequences that come the next day,” Holmes says.

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Holmes and his colleagues found that many people drink soft drinks to curb their drinking habits. “They're adopting a hybrid model where sometimes they drink alcoholic beverages and sometimes they don't,” Holmes said. “It simply helps them control their alcohol consumption and gradually reduce it over time.” And so far, the evidence suggests it's working.

The benefits and possible harms of alcoholic beverages.

In a recent study published in the journal BMC Medicine, researchers examined whether soft drinks help people reduce alcohol consumption. According to Hisashi Yoshimoto, a researcher at the University of Tsukuba and author of the article, the 123 study participants were moderate to heavy drinkers who agreed to monitor their alcohol consumption but did not intentionally reduce it.

Yoshimoto notes that participants also drank more than average: more than four 12-ounce beers at least four times a week for men and more than two beers at least four times a week for women.

Over the course of 12 weeks, 54 participants received a monthly supply of soft drinks, while the rest did not. Those who drank soft drinks consumed an average of 11 grams of alcohol per day, which is equivalent to about 12 ounces of beer. They also reported drinking approximately one can of alcoholic beer per day. “It was almost like a transplant,” Yoshimoto says. Eight weeks after the study ended, they still reported drinking less alcohol on average.

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For moderate to heavy drinkers, reducing alcohol consumption can lead to significant health benefits. Avik Bhattacharya, director of research at the Social Market Foundation, a public policy think tank, said: “The more you drink, the greater the risk. heart disease and various types of cancer that develop in moderate drinkers.

But experts have some concerns about the role of cocktails in society, including the possibility that soft drinks could normalize alcohol consumption. For example, allowing well-known alcohol brands to advertise and display their soft drinks in places where they would not normally be allowed could act as a form of covert marketing to a much younger audience.

"We don't yet know whether it's alcohol-free, which means people will feel comfortable giving it to their children when they're eight or nine," says Professor Niamh Fitzgerald from the University of Stirling, whose research focuses on alcohol. politics. . .

The second question is whether soft drinks are appropriate for people with alcohol use disorders. Some experts discourage their use, fearing that they can trigger behavioral signals that could lead a person to relapse. Other experts believe it may depend on the situation. “The role of these drinks in supporting people in recovery from alcohol use disorders is probably still unknown,” Fitzgerald said. “This is not a one-size-fits-all solution.”

How to make a good mocktail?

In addition to the health benefits, the growing interest in soft drinks is also partly driven by advances in food science. “The alcohol industry can now reliably produce great-tasting, low-alcohol drinks,” Holmes said. “This would not have been possible 10 or 15 years ago.” These advances include new, cost-effective ways to remove alcohol from beer and wine without sacrificing flavor.

But creating a successful cocktail that is as delicious and satisfying as an alcoholic cocktail can be a challenge. Not only does alcohol have its own consistency, which is difficult to replace, but it also has its own taste, so creating an equivalent balance can be a technical challenge. Creating a successful mocktail isn't impossible, but it requires a shift in thinking.

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Debary suggests letting go of expectations of what a cocktail should be. “You'll never get to the point where you say it's like a daiquiri without the alcohol,” Debary says. “What's really exciting for me is creating flavors, combinations and textures that are completely outside the box.”

Debary likes to add as many interesting flavors as possible to offset differences in texture, whether it's the spiciness of citrus or the subtlety of herbs. She also likes to experiment with alcohol substitutes, including ingredients like artificial vinegar. “Vinegar is a product of fermentation, and fermentation is what gives beer, wine and spirits a lot of complexity,” Debary says. He discovered that non-alcoholic beer and wine could serve as the base for the cocktail.

Ultimately, Debary says, "mocktails and cocktails are successful for essentially the same reason: they need to be balanced." This means the drink should be tart but not too sour, sweet but not sticky, and pair well with the overall drink without any bitterness. In the end, it's all about moderation.