Try this Tropical Christmas Mocktail recipe, or contribute your own.
- Carbohydrate 0 g
- Cholesterol 0 mg
- Fat 0 g
- Fiber 0 g
- Protein 0 g
- Saturated Fat 0 g
- Serving Size 1 1 recipe (0g)
- Sodium 0 mg
- Sugar 0 g
- Trans Fat 0 g
- Calories 0 calories
Step-by-step
- In in a cocktail shaker, add banana macadamia syrup, pineapple shrub, lime juice and coconut water.
- Fill shaker with ice, and shake until ice cold.
- Add ice to two tall cocktail glasses.
- Strain half of the pineapple mixture into one glass, and the rest to the other.
- Top both with ginger beer.
- Serve and enjoy.
Swapping the pineapple shrub for a tart apple cider vinegar reduction alters the drink entirely, shifting the profile from tropical acidity to orchard-fruit sharpness. Acidity balances sweetness in non-alcoholic mixed drinks just as alcohol does in traditional cocktails, preventing the heavy syrups from coating the palate.
Balancing Sugar and Acid in Shrub Beverages
Shrubs rely on a preservation method rooted in seventeenth-century English traditions where fruit, sugar, and vinegar macerate together to extract bright fruit flavors while arresting microbial growth. Fresh lime juice provides an immediate hit of citric acid, measuring a pH around 2.0, which cuts through the viscous weight of the banana macadamia syrup. Shaking the syrup, shrub, lime juice, and coconut water with ice chills the liquid rapidly while aerating the mixture, increasing volume by roughly fifteen percent. Strain the mixture precisely through a fine mesh sieve after 15 seconds of vigorous agitation to prevent micro-ice shards from diluting the final pour when topped with 12 ounces of ginger beer.
- Inspect the ginger beer bottle carbonation by checking for steady bubble streams; flat ginger beer ruins the effervescent mouthfeel necessary for tall carbonated serves.
- Store leftover banana macadamia syrup in a sealed glass jar at 38 degrees Fahrenheit for up to fourteen days to maintain aromatic volatile compounds.
- Watch for cloudiness in the coconut water as an indicator of separation before mixing.
