Apple Mocktail

From time to time, one entertains a guest who does not wish to drink alcohol, for reasons of pregnancy, designated driverdom, alcohol intolerance, teetotalism, mormonism, or similar pathologies. This drink isn't really for those people, because it pushes the mocktail line ever so slightly. This drink is more for those nights when one wishes to drink without drinking. On one such night, I found myself in possession of fresh apple juice, ginger beer, and acid phosphate, and I had a good feeling that I could put those together.The acid phosphate from art of drink has been an intriguing and challenging ingredient to handle; it truly has no flavor, only the experience of dry sourness. As such, it is difficult to tell how much you are using when you taste your drink before you chill and dilute it. It works about like lemon juice, with a half to three quarters of an ounce being the appropriate measure to sour a drink with no citrus.

Apple Mocktail3 oz Fresh Apple Juice (Could use unfiltered apple juice).75 oz Acid Phosphate (Could use lemon juice).25 oz Angostura bittersShake over ice and strain over fresh ice. Top with 2 oz ginger beer (Bundaberg) and float a dash of Angostura bitters.

It's hard to see in the photo, but the float of angostura bitters made a beautiful color gradient of dark red to light brown over the height of the drink. I admit, the use of bitters does give this an extremely mild alcohol component, but it's not enough to notice or to improve impair your judgement.As I formulated this drink, the angostura wasn't as pronounced as I would have liked, and neither was the sourness. I still haven't found the acid phosphate drink that I dream of, and I would suggest that if you do replicate this one, you should use lemon juice, instead, and you use a whole ounce. An ounce of acid phosphate would also be fine, but it's kind of an expensive ingredient to be mixing up in ounces.