A Mocktail from Neil and David’s Upcoming Book!

Neil and I haven’t officially announced this yet, but…we are writing a book! (Do you think we’d reveal this news anywhere but Wondercade?!) It’s coming out in the fall of 2025 (it takes forever to write and publish a book) and it features paired cocktail and mocktail recipes inspired by classic drinks — so everyone can enjoy a drink together, with alcohol or without, no matter the vibe. (We still don’t even have a title. Neil is championing The Mock and The Cock, but I have some concerns….) To hold you over ‘til then, I’m sharing this recipe for a mocktail that pairs well with any of the Negronis you’ve learned about on this very website.

By now, you know that Neil knows his way around a cocktail, and really admires the art of mixology. I, however, have been sober for over 7 years now. [Neil Note: Mad respect, David. I’m so proud of you.] While the spirit-free landscape has gotten significantly better in recent years, I think a lot of people are still intimidated by mocktails. For the longest time, the sober (or anyone who just didn’t feel like consuming alcohol at any particular moment) were banished to the world of drinks intended for children, or a sad soda with lime. When’s the last time you drank a Shirley Temple? It’s basically liquid red sugar. Which can have its place (no shade to the Shirley Temple fans out there!), but it’s not really suited for everyday sipping.

While Neil and I used to love partaking in cocktail hour together, when it came down to it, the thing we loved the most was the event. The care of making something special and sitting down to unwind (or wind up). And when I stopped drinking, we still wanted to be able to enjoy a moment together.

And we’re not alone. We have tons of friends who are couples with mixed sobriety, friends who are pregnant, or families who just don’t drink that much. So we wanted to give a guide on how to accommodate everyone at the same time.

So without further ado, I present to you from our upcoming book, the Blonde No-groni!