Recipe

5 Cocktails for People Who Hate the Taste of Alcohol

By Jackie Fu at University of Texas

Unlike the vast majority of college students, alcohol doesn’t hold any allure for me. The brief buzz isn’t worth the assault on my taste buds every time I down a shot or sip a crude combination of juice and vodka. However, easily mingling with strangers and dancing provocatively on tabletops (my recipe for a good time) isn’t possible without at least a few ounces of liquid courage.

If your palate can’t stomach the thought of alcohol, here’s a list of cocktails you can make that are sweet and savory enough to pass the taste-test, yet potent enough to guarantee a good time. So grab your shaker tins, drink up and party on.

Queens Park Swizzle

  • Prep Time: 3 mins
  • Cook Time: 3 mins
  • Total Time: 6 mins
  • Servings: 1
Ingredients
  • 1 oz fresh-squeezed lime juice
  • 3/4 oz simple syrup
  • 4-6 mint leaves
  • 1 Demerara Cane Sugar cube
  • 2 oz Caña Brava Rum
  • Crushed ice

Jackie Fu

Step 1

Add sugar cube and simple syrup to a shaker tin. Thoroughly muddle (bartender speak for crush) sugar cube with a pestle or blunt object.

Step 2

Add mint leaves and press gently on leaves about 3-4 times, enough to release the mint aroma but not the bitter chlorophyll.

Step 3

Add the rum and a few pieces of crushed ice into the shaker tin. Shake for 6-8 seconds or until tin is cool, then pour into chilled glass.

Step 4

Top with crushed ice and Angostura bitters. Garnish with a mint sprig (slap it a few times to activate the aroma) and serve with a straw.

Moscow Mule

  • Prep Time: 1 min
  • Cook Time: 2 mins
  • Total Time: 3 mins
  • Servings: 1
Ingredients
  • 2 oz vodka
  • 6 oz ginger beer
  • 1/2 oz fresh-squeezed lime juice

Jackie Fu

Step 1

Squeeze lime juice into glass.

Step 2

Add ice.

Step 3

Top with ginger beer and add a ginger cube on a toothpick if you’re feeling extra festive.

Penicillin

  • Prep Time: 3 mins
  • Cook Time: 2 mins
  • Total Time: 5 mins
  • Servings: 1
Ingredients
  • 3/8 oz honey
  • 3/8 oz ginger syrup
  • 3/4 oz lemon juice
  • 2 oz blended scotch

Jackie Fu

Step 1

Add all ingredients to shaker tin with ice. Shake well.

Step 2

Strain into a double rocks (short) glass and add ice.

Step 3

Garnish with a ginger cube on a toothpick.

Pimm's Cup

  • Prep Time: 5 mins
  • Cook Time: 3 mins
  • Total Time: 8 mins
  • Servings: 1
Ingredients
  • 1/2 inch thick cucumber slice
  • 1/2 inch thick lemon slice
  • 2 oz Pimm's No. 1
  • 4 oz Sprite
  • 2-3 raspberries
  • 2-3 blackberries

Jackie Fu

Step 1

Muddle the cucumber, lemon, raspberries and blackberries in a highball (tall) glass.

Step 2

Add Pimm’s No. 1 and Sprite. Stir gently.

Step 3

Fill glass with ice and garnish with a half-moon lemon slice and a blackberry.

French 75

  • Prep Time: 2 mins
  • Cook Time: 2 mins
  • Total Time: 4 mins
  • Servings: 1
Ingredients
  • 1/2 oz simple syrup
  • 1/2 oz lemon juice
  • 1 oz gin
  • 3 oz champagne

Jackie Fu

Step 1

Add ice, simple syrup, lemon juice and gin to shaker tin. Shake well.

Step 2

Strain into champagne glass.

Step 3

Top with champagne.