We've made a lot of mocktails over the years, and for most of that time, we've been making them wrong. They tasted like fruit juice with extra steps. We've come around to thinking the whole category needs a different approach, and we're sharing what we've learned because we wish someone had told us earlier.

The problem with most mocktails

Open most cocktail menus and you'll find the non-alcoholic section labeled something polite like "Zero Proof" or "Mindful Drinks" or "Spirit-Free". The actual drinks in that section are usually:

  • Fruit puree, citrus juice, sugar, and soda water
  • Fancy iced tea with mint
  • "Virgin" something (one of the sadder framings in beverage history)
  • A 28-ringgit fruit juice

These taste fine. They also taste like nothing complicated is happening. From what we've come to think, that's the actual problem: the drinks are solving for "no alcohol" instead of "a drink worth ordering."

What's actually missing

A cocktail without alcohol loses three things at once:

  • Body. Alcohol gives weight and warmth.
  • Bitterness. Most aperitifs and digestifs are at least partly bitter, and non-alcoholic versions don't have to be bland.
  • Complexity through fermentation or aging. Most spirits carry years of barrel work.

Most mocktail recipes only try to replace the body with sweetness and texture (more fruit, more soda, sometimes coconut cream). They ignore bitterness and complexity entirely. That's why the result feels like a refreshment instead of an experience.

Solving for complexity instead of sweetness

Three tools we've come to lean on heavily.

Acid. Not just citrus. Acid in many forms. Vinegar (shrubs, drinking vinegars), verjuice, fresh tamarind, lacto-fermented juices, kombucha (our notes on brewing it here). Acid adds the ping that makes a sip feel deliberate.

Salt. A tiny amount, often as a saline solution (1g salt per 100ml water, dropper-dispensed). Salt suppresses bitterness slightly and amplifies aromatic notes. Most mocktails are too sweet partly because they lack salt to bring out their other elements.

Bitterness. Non-alcoholic bitters exist now. Even a few drops of an aromatic blend changes a fruit-and-soda drink into something with depth. Failing that: tonic water (quinine), chinotto, strong cold-brewed coffee, or a dash of unsweetened cranberry.

Two we've been happy with

Pandan-coconut sour:

  • Fresh young coconut water
  • Fresh lime juice
  • Pandan syrup, light (how we make it)
  • Verjuice (or dry white grape juice)
  • Saline solution
  • NA bitters
  • Egg white (optional, for foam)

Shake hard. Double strain into a coupe. Garnish with a pandan leaf. The drink doesn't taste sweet. It tastes deep, with pandan sitting back, lime forward, and a slight salinity that makes everything else more vivid.

Kopi-O kosong negroni:

Build over ice. Stir gently. Tastes like a Negroni rendered through an entirely Malaysian vocabulary. Coffee bitterness instead of Campari. Hibiscus instead of vermouth. Vinegar for the structure.

What we got wrong

For about a year we built a "non-alcoholic Old Fashioned" using non-alcoholic whisky-style spirits. It always tasted hollow. We eventually realized we were trying to substitute the alcohol directly, when really we should have been building a different drink entirely. The Old Fashioned is the spirit. You can't subtract it cleanly.

A better non-alcoholic move when you want that aged-spirit feel: build around strong tea, gula melaka, and bitters. Not "an Old Fashioned without whisky", but a drink that occupies the same evening slot.

An invitation

The non-alcoholic category is wide open right now. Not many Malaysian bars are taking it seriously yet. What that means: if you're building these at home, you might be doing better work than what's on most menus.

If you've built a savoury mocktail you're proud of, send us the recipe. We'd genuinely like to drink it.

Frequently asked questions

What is a savoury mocktail?

A savoury mocktail is a non-alcoholic drink built around acid, salt, and bitterness rather than fruit juice and sugar. The aim is to recover the complexity that alcohol normally provides: body, bitterness, and the depth that comes from fermentation or barrel work. Done well, it tastes deliberate and worth ordering instead of like "a refreshment with extra steps."

Why do most mocktails feel sweet and flat?

Most mocktails substitute the alcohol with more fruit, more soda, and sometimes coconut cream. That replaces body with sweetness but ignores the two other things alcohol contributed: bitterness (most aperitifs and digestifs are bitter) and complexity from ageing or fermentation. Without those, the drink reads as juice with bubbles instead of a layered beverage with its own arc.

How do I add complexity to a mocktail at home?

Lean on three tools. Acid in many forms (vinegar, verjuice, tamarind, lacto-fermented juice, kombucha) for the ping that makes a sip feel deliberate. Salt as a saline solution (1g salt per 100ml water, dropper-dispensed) to suppress overt sweetness and amplify aromatics. Bitterness from non-alcoholic bitters, tonic, chinotto, strong cold-brew coffee, or unsweetened cranberry.

Can I substitute a non-alcoholic spirit directly into a classic cocktail?

Rarely. We tried building a non-alcoholic Old Fashioned around whisky-style NA spirits for about a year and it always read hollow. A cleaner move is to build a different drink that occupies the same evening slot: strong tea, gula melaka, and bitters give the aged-spirit feel without pretending to replace bourbon. Treat the mocktail as its own object, not a subtraction.

Where can I order savoury mocktails in PJ?

Dissolved Solids (43-1 Jalan SS20/11, Damansara Kim, WhatsApp +60 11-4008 7607) and Soluble Solids (50-1 Jalan SS2/24, WhatsApp +60 11-1682 8651) build savoury non-alcoholic drinks on request: a Pandan-Coconut Sour with verjuice and saline, or a Kopi-O Kosong Negroni with hibiscus and apple cider vinegar. Tell the bartender you do not want sweet and they will route accordingly.