High-End Hotel Bars Serving Booze-Free Cocktails

Even in some of the world’s booziest destinations, people who enjoy bars are being more selective of when and where they imbibe. That is leading to a new trend of high-end cocktails holding the booze.

These new libations are more than just “mocktails” says The New York Times—a term that doesn’t really do justice to the sophisticated nature of handcrafted beverages.

Ryan Chetiyawardana, the founder and owner of Dandelyan, at Mondrian London at Sea Containers hotel even denounces the term, in an interview with The Times.

“I consider our nonalcohol cocktails to be as complex and as important as our ones with alcohol and refer to them simply as cocktails,” said Chetiyawardana. “Mocktails, on the other hand, have a negative connotation. They tend to be overly sweet and an afterthought at bars.”

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The new breed of non-alcoholic cocktail is far from an afterthought, with intriguing and exotic ingredients along with alcohol-free distilled spirits such as Seedlip Garden, a drink that combines an array of botanicals, including spearmint, rosemary and thyme.

Dandelyn offers four non-alcoholic drinks, including the Bradsell, which is a cold-brew coffee with malt caramel and chai spices, and the Apple Sourz-Less with Seedlip Garden, peas, pressed apples, rye flakes and capillaire syrup.

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Much of the popularity involving these beverages lies with the fact that people increasingly don’t want to drink during the day, but they would like to order something that is more sophisticated than just a diet soda or iced tea.

Philip Duff, education director for Tales of the Cocktail—a premier summer event in New Orleans that showcases the history and modern techniques of the cocktail—also noted to The Times that libations of all varieties are growing in popularity.

“An artistic drink is an artistic drink whether it has alcohol in it or not, and both will chill you out,” Duff said.

Drinks such as these find the most traction and popularity at hotel bars, Duff notes. With a larger budget, hotel bars have more breadth to create and use high-end ingredients.

Some suggestions are the Plaza Athenee’s Nice Guys no alcohol menu as well as Bemelmans Bar at the Carlyle in New York City.