This week’s drink is, admittedly, 90% an invention of necessity. First, I offhandedly offered to host New Year’s Eve festivities for my friends, one of whom remarked that she probably wasn’t even going to drink. All this means that I knew that New Year’s would be the perfect place to debut the first of the mocktails I do for the site… the only caveat being that I had basically given myself 2 days to formulate something (A quick, post-NYE side note: I was the only person who ended up drinking at said party, yet also didn’t make too much of an effort to promote this mocktail. Oops.). I took to my fridge and pantry to see what I had to work with: apple cider, cardamom syrup (that I had originally made for a gin-based drink months prior that everyone ended up hating, because gin), a tube of ginger puree, and an ungodly amount of turmeric.
Naturally, I decided to throw all of these things together in a cocktail shaker to see what would happen.
And it, much like pretty much any of the cursed bullshit I put on this blog… was actually pretty good. The turmeric sort of serves the same purpose that a bitters would in an alcoholic drink, something that I think many mocktails seem to overlook. And even without the turmeric, all the other flavors obviously work well enough together as a relatively classic fall/winter drink.
I do want to point out that I’m still not 100% happy with this. The raw turmeric still tends to leave a chalky mouthfeel that no one seems to acknowledge on any of the sites I saw after googling “best way to add turmeric to a drink and not have that chalky mouthfeel.” Also, since most of the solids get strained out, it’s hard to tell if the ginger puree is really doing anything. The ideal solution to both of these would be to make a turmeric, ginger and cardamom syrup, but that would also be a little less useful for recipes that aren’t this.
Either way, I actually measured everything for once (That’s right, I bought a jigger and pony for this. I did this, for you.) so you can make it yourself and adjust to your tastes. More turmeric? No turmeric? Your fate is in your hands.
[Also, in other, Dry January news, many Gen Zs are going “sober curious,” which, as a person who dabbles in being cringe as hell, is cringe as hell. It feels like the Dry January equivalent of how 10 years ago we called any straight guy who dressed well and used deodorant “metrosexual.”]
The Recipe
3 oz apple cider
¾ tsp turmeric
1 tsp ginger puree*
1 oz cardamom syrup**
~2 oz sparkling apple cider
*According to the package, this is equivalent of 1 Tbs of freshly grated ginger.
**Boil 1 cup of water, 1 cup of sugar and ¼ cup of cardamom pods together until the mixture has reduced to a syrupy consistency. Let steep for 3 days, then strain out the cardamom pods.
Combine the (flat) cider, turmeric, ginger and syrup in a cocktail shaker. Shake, then pour into a mesh strainer over a rocks glass (turmeric and brown sugar rim garnish and obnoxious round ice cube optional). Top off with sparkling cider.
*WARNING: Turmeric-rimmed glasses may result in you getting turmeric stains all over your nose, as I found out about half an hour after drinking the one in the picture.*
Would like to think I ~50% participated by drinking apple cider
That you did, that you did.