Cocktail & Other Recipes Cocktail Type Nonalcoholic

Shot in the Dark

A faux wine blend stars in this non-alcoholic sour from Alex Jump.

By
Audrey Morgan
Headshot of Audrey Morgan, smiling and facing forward, wearing black sweater on solid dark gray background
Audrey Morgan
Audrey Morgan is the associate editor at Liquor.com, where she writes and edits features, explainers, bottle reviews, bartender profiles, and more.
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Published 01/9/23
Shot in the Dark non alcoholic cocktail

Liquor.com / Tim Nusog

Spirits replacements often feature in non-alcoholic bar programs, but Alex Jump was inspired by a faux wine blend for this drink she developed at Death & Co Denver. The bar sold Acid League Wine Proxies by the bottle, and Jump wanted to see how else she could use the liquid to cut down on waste. The result: a gently herbaceous sour-format drink that, thanks to the vegan aquafaba used, can be consumed by almost anyone.

“Everything I’d tasted in the market, I had felt was really acidic,” says Jump, who is now the senior manager of operations for Focus on Health. “When I tasted Acid League Proxies I was really excited because they’re not dealcoholized wines, they’re botanical blends that are meant to help emulate that thing that wine does with terroir.” 

The brand’s Sauvage blend evokes the Canadian forest with sauvignon blanc grape juice, green apple juice, and spices including juniper, cedar, and spruce. “It drinks kind of like a verjus and I wanted to play off those juicy and piney notes,” says Jump. She adds the non-alcoholic spirit Pentire Adrift, which reflects the terroir of the Cornwall, England coastline with botanicals including rock samphire, sage, lemon, and Cornish sea salt. 

Jump sweetens the drink with a vanilla syrup and uses chickpea-based aquafaba instead of an egg white to create its silky texture.

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 ounces Acid League Wine Proxies Sauvage

  • 1/2 ounce Pentire Adrift

  • 3/4 ounce lemon juice, freshly squeezed

  • 3/4 ounce vanilla simple syrup

  • 1/2 ounce aquafaba

Steps

  1. Add all ingredients to a shaker and dry-shake for 15–20 seconds without ice, until a good foam has formed.

  2. Add ice and shake again until well-chilled.

  3. Strain into a coupe glass.

What Is Aquafaba?

Aquafaba is a starchy liquid typically made from chickpea water, or brine. In many cocktails, it’s used as a vegan replacement for egg whites, which trap air when shaken and often give sour-style cocktails their silky and frothy head. When you’re using aquafaba in drinks, you can simply reserve the water that’s leftover in a can of drained chickpeas, or you can make your own aquafaba by soaking dry chickpeas in water overnight, then cooking them and reserving the water.

What Is a Dry Shake?

Dry-shaking involves shaking ingredients such as egg whites or aquafaba at room temperature, without ice, to completely emulsify the ingredients and allow the liquids to become silky and frothy. A second wet shake, with ice, chills and dilutes the cocktail.

Where Can I Buy the Ingredients?

You can buy Acid League Proxies Sauvage and Pentire Adrift online directly from the producers, as well as from non-alcoholic bottle shops such as Boisson. Pentire is also stocked on Amazon.