Soft Drinks

By Food & Wine
Updated May 24, 2017
A guide to sodas and virgin cocktails, from a pomegranate-ginger-chile nojito to an almond-fennel cooler.
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Fuji Apple Soda

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As soon as Backstreet Café's beverage director Sean Beck spotted a new line of apple-flavored juices and sodas at a grocery store, he decided to make one of his own. After a spirited discussion of apples with a winemaker, Beck chose the Fuji as the base for his drink.

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Tuscan Fresco

Credit: PHOTO © TINA RUPP
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"A lot of restaurants treat virgin cocktails like vegetarian dishes: They just make a drink from the regular menu and leave out the alcohol," says Boka Kitchen's executive chef Seis Kamimura. "I love the challenge of creating original nonalcoholic drinks that are special in their own right."

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Strawberry & Ginger Cooler

Credit: PHOTO © WENDELL T. WEBBER
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At the Belle Epoque–style Absinthe Brasserie, general manager and cocktail book author Jeff Hollinger serves up modern adaptations of 19th-century classic drinks. His Strawberry & Ginger Cooler is one of the few nonalcoholic refreshers on the menu.

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Cucumber Cooler

Credit: PHOTO © FRANCES JANISCH
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To complement their alcoholic and nonalcoholic drinks, Jack Falstaff specializes in fancy bar snacks such as fried sage leaves and pickled turnips.

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Pomegranate-Ginger-Chile Nojito

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All of Nacional 27's cocktails are collaborations with the kitchen. This one took shape after mixologist Adam Seger tasted an amazing mango-habanero salad dressing.

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Fresco

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During the winter, the bartenders at Volterra make this thyme-accented drink with blood oranges in place of grapefruit.

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Hot Fizz

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"Ask most bartenders about the molecular difference between the acid in citrus and the acid in apples, and they're lost," says Sebastian Reaburn. In this fizz, he pairs tart apple juice with hot chile, which adds great heat and a zingy, slightly sweet pepper taste.

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Almond-Fennel Cooler

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Like an old-fashioned soda-fountain drink, this mocktail relies on a delicious small-batch syrup. Its creator is Jennifer Colliau, a mixologist at San Francisco's Slanted Door restaurant and an artisanal syrup maker who also owns Small Hand Foods, which sells classic ingredients for pre-Prohibition era cocktails.

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