During hot summer days, if you’re looking to enjoy the cold, thirst-quenching taste of a mojito, without the dehydrating inclusion of alcohol, Blue Sky‘s Tyler Lewis shares the following refreshing Watermelon-Cucumber NO-jito. Grab your friends and some fresh watermelon and cucumber from your local farmer’s market, and mix up this mojito mocktail.
Why A Mocktail?
Though drinking is a lot of fun, sometimes ingesting something that dehydrates you in the summer heat isn’t the move. Or you’ve had a few too many the night before. Or, you just don’t want to drink alcohol. No explanation needed. Mocktails are a fun, creative way to spice up your beverage routine.
Watermelon-Cucumber NO-jito Recipe
INGREDIENTS
- ½ oz fresh watermelon juice
- ¾ oz lime juice
- ¾ oz simple syrup
- 1 ½ oz Seedlip Garden 108 non-alcoholic spirit
- 4 fresh-cut watermelon chunks
- 4 fresh-cut cucumber slices
- Jamaica’s Finest Ginger Beer (or other ginger beer of your choice)
- Sliced watermelon, cucumber, and lime for garnish
INSTRUCTIONS
- Add watermelon juice, lime juice, simple syrup, Seedlip Garden 108, watermelon chunks, and cucumber slices to a shaker with ice and shake vigorously.
- Roll into a pint glass and top with ginger beer.
- Garnish, serve, and enjoy your mojito mocktail!
What Makes a Mojito?
Something to think about with any mocktail is how it can match the original drink. The mojito is one of the oldest mixed drinks in the world. It originated in the 1500s in Cuba, but gained popularity from the Bacardi rum company in the 1800s. Author Ernest Hemingway was known to be a big fan, and he probably could have benefited from swapping it out with a mocktail every now and then. Our mocktail version obviously doesn’t have the classic rum, but we’ve emulated the flavor with a combination of Seedlip mixer and ginger beer to get both the kick and the acidity of a classic mojito. If you really want to commit to the mojito bit, you can replace that with a zero-proof rum for the same effect.
Wrap-Up
Whether you’re new to mocktails or a pro, this is a refreshing, easy to make summer drink. You can also try our Peach Basil Bellini mocktail or Wildberry Sparkler Mocktail, also by Tyler Lewis, for some other inspiration.
Recipe by Tyler Lewis / Styling by Star LaLiberte / Photography by Dave Bryce
