Damp January with zero proof cocktail tryouts

Why isn’t the title “Dry January with Mocktails?”

With people taking various paths to lower their alcohol consumption, Damp January has become a popular beverage descriptor in addition to defining weather conditions. As for mocktails, they are so yesterday. The new vocabulary for the growing subset of cocktails includes zero proof, spirit-free, nonalcoholic (NA) drinks, alternative spirits, and more.

Add to that list “Temperance Temptations.” In late December I chose the Faux Negroni under that heading at One Market, a favorite San Francisco restaurant across from the Ferry Building. Booze-friendly Negronis are made with three liquors, gin, Campari, and sweet vermouth. After holiday parties and a mid-December cruise, I held a sober mindset and enjoyed the near G&T temperance drink throughout dinner with family friends.

Wilderton Bittersweet Aperitivo replaced the Campari in the Faux Negroni. Like making strong tea, Wilderton steeps a blend of botanicals in hot water to produce concentrated extracts. The extracts are combined with unfermented wine grape juice. To get more intense flavor without alcohol as the carrier agent, additional botanicals are distilled at cold temperatures. The traditional high heat, multi-step distillation process results in spirits with ABV (alcohol by volume) of around 40%. The FDA allows liquor producers to call their spirits “nonalcoholic” if less than 0.5% ABV or one proof.

With more buzz words, or shall we say non-buzz words, popping up around nonalcoholic “imitation” spirits, I tapped my friend, spirits expert Camper English, the San Francisco author of “Distillers and Doctors,” a book on the medicinal history of booze, and “The Ice Book,” to explain the NA trend. He offered a Golden State angle with his response.

“Wellness and medical issues are major drivers in the fact that people are drinking less. People may imbibe less alcohol, but as the interest in well-made craft and nonalcoholic cocktails has risen, so has the price of cocktails. In California with the availability of drinkable, smokable and edible CBD/THC, many people have discovered more buzz for the buck from cannabis over alcohol,” said English.

Though NA spirits are often perceived as healthier, many imitation drinks have added sugar or sweeteners plus additives such as glycerin and xanthan gum to enhance mouthfeel. As for the Wilderton product, English noted that amaros, bittersweet liquors such as Campari and Aperol do well in NA forms. Added English, “The secret is that a small amount of sugar enhances the flavors in nonalcoholic spirits.”

I stopped by Sabio on Main restaurant in downtown Pleasanton for a January NA cocktail. Known for creative cocktails, Sabio’s Wine and Beverage Manager Ranier Reglos lists three zero proof cocktails with two fruit puree-based drinks. I ordered the Zero Proof Gin & Tonic.

The drink, made with Clean G gin alternative, pomegranate juice, tonic, and fresh lemon juice, was refreshing and not too sweet with a classic gin juniper flavor profile bite and a slight acidic kick that mimicked the heat of alcohol. The presentation with a large, clear ice cube topped with pomegranate seeds and a rosemary sprig was visually appealing.

Not aware of the alternate gin, I picked up the Clean G bottle and noticed the bottom of the front label read “non-alcoholic, less than 0.5% ABV (alcohol by volume).” I had scanned the NA shelves at a liquor store before the visit and did not see this technical detail on labels.

Next, I read the ingredient list, and “ethanol” was listed with an asterisk. My eyes opened wide at the description: “Adds a trivial amount of alcohol,” the intoxicating element of beverages.

For noting the trivial ethanol element, I applaud the CleanCo Ventures company based in Delaware, a state not known for beverage production beyond Dogfish Head Craft Brewed Ales.

People who seek zero alcohol need to study ingredients and production techniques. Deep into their websites, some producers explain that they distill from a base spirit, then reverse distill to remove the ethanol until a tiny amount under 0.5 % remains. A similar issue of labeling surrounds “fat free” food products. The FDA allows less than 0.5 grams of fat in one serving of food to be called “fat free.”

Note that a common ingredient of cocktails are bitters, the tinctures of flavor extracts that add complexity to drinks. Bitters often contain a trivial amount of alcohol under 0.5% as does the fermented tea beverage kombucha. (Hard kombucha, like hard seltzers, have higher alcohol levels.)

When large groups dine at Sabio’s said Reglos, usually one or two may be a teetotaler, pregnant, or designated driver and eschew alcohol. In the spirit of serving NA cocktails and featuring house made items, Chef-Partner Francis X. Hogan and Reglos may develop in-house botanical spirits emulating whiskey or gin.

These better-for-you and functional NA spirits are coming to restaurants and markets near you at a rapid pace. Made with extracts from leaves, roots, flowers, herbs, spices and more, companies copy the flavor profile of traditional spirits. Some of these beverages tout health benefits—people have added curative remedies to drinks from sarsaparilla to wormwood and thyme for centuries.

Alkali Rye liquor store in Oakland is known for its extensive offering of NA spirits. A subhead on the “Non Alcs” section on their website is “Botanicals and Adaptogens.” I looked up the word adaptogen: certain plant extracts that help manage stress in the body. Ghia NA Aperitivo describes its lead ingredient, lemon balm, as a nervine which is reported to calm the mind. De Soi Golden Hour NA apéritif lists lemon balm and L-theanine derived from green tea.

Beyond discovering healthier cocktails, NA seekers also follow their religious beliefs. At Mortar & Pestle, the bar inside the Curry Up! restaurant at the City Center Bishop Ranch location in San Ramon, Bar Manager Todd Flaker told me that the restaurant hosts many Muslim guests who eschew alcohol. The bar lists several cocktails with alternative spirits including the Solar Rays with honey, lemon, ginger, seltzer, and butterfly pea blossom extract which imparts a purple swirl to the drink.

For those seeking alcohol alternatives, the options have grown exponentially. Staff at Total Wine & More noted that four years ago a single bay of five shelves held all the NA spirits, wine and beer. Now there are five full bays of NA products.

I plan on sampling more NA cocktails this year. Take your pick of beverages and enjoy good food and drink this year.