Round 2 of raiding my parents’ kitchen. Now that I know my mom is not doing alcohol at the moment, I went with a mocktail so that she could enjoy it too! She loves fruity drinks and everyone loves pretty drinks, so I went very tropical on this one.

The details:

Jump to recipe

Thought process:

I’ve never made a mocktail before. My mom requested pineapple juice and I decided to use basil because I like cocktails with herbs in them and it’s the only fresh herb my parents had in their house. From that foundation I added strawberries because I like muddling and strawberries and basil are a proven combo. Then I added orange juice just for another fruit note. My greatest concern was that it would be too sweet, since there’s nothing alcoholic or really bitter available to BALANCE out the fruit juices. I confirmed that both the pineapple juice and orange juice were in fact quite sweet by tasting them. For that reason I included lime so that the sour would at least balance the sweet a bit. The maple syrup was just a sweetener that we had on hand. And then tonic, because everything is better with bubbles.

Below, the recipe:

Strawberry Pineapple Mocktail
Makes 2 small

• 3 4 strawberries, chopped
• 5 leaves basil
• ½ oz maple syrup
• 2 oz 3 oz pineapple juice
• 2 oz orange juice
• 1 oz ½ oz lime juice
• 4 oz 6 oz tonic

1. Muddle the strawberries, basil, and maple syrup in a cocktail shaker with muddler or end of a wooden spoon. You want it to be good and crushed up, which may take a while if the strawberries are not very ripe.
2. Add juices and mix thoroughly.
3. Fill with ice and shake 30 seconds.
4. Strain into 2 glasses over ice. The strawberries and basil will clog the holes of the strainer, so make sure to shake around really good to get everything out.
5. Top off with tonic (3 oz each)
6. Garnish with a strawberry and small basil leaf

Rating:

4/5 stars.

Quite tasty! The lime was surprisingly strong. This would probably be good with gin (or vodka?) if that’s your thing.

Future improvements:

I would reduce the lime in the future (see cross out and corrections) and increase the strawberry and pineapple juice to amplify those flavors.