Goodbye mocktails: Hong Kong’s teetotallers embrace alcohol-free spirits and soft cocktails

As teetotallers grow in number, bars are serving alcohol-free cocktails that cost the same and take as much care to make as their boozy versions. We talk to some Hong Kong bartenders and the maker of high-end alcohol-free spirits

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Antonio Lai makes a Morning Dew non-alcoholic cocktail at The Envoy in Central. Photo: Winson Wong

Published: 6:46pm, 13 Apr 2018Updated: 6:35pm, 14 Apr 2018

For bartender Antonio Lai, it can be embarrassing to go out for drinks with colleagues, because he has a low tolerance for alcohol. His face turns blush red and pretty soon he has to call it a night. Asking for a virgin cocktail can also result in a red face – from embarrassment.

But the barman who runs Quinary, The Envoy and VEA need not feel the shame any more – he’s noticing more customers asking for non-alcoholic drinks that he likes to call “spirit-free drinks”. There’s no shame in asking for one of these concoctions that can be just as or even more complicated than their boozy counterparts.

At The Envoy, Lai shows off the “spirit-free” menu featuring five drinks that look the same as their alcoholic counterparts but have different names and slightly different presentations so that bartenders and servers know the difference.

“When we opened Quinary, not many guests asked for non-alcoholic drinks, but after a few years we see spirit-free drinks are more popular than juice. You can have a good time and not have to drink cranberry and orange juice,” he says.

He says alcohol-free cocktails are good for those with low alcohol tolerance, women who are pregnant, those taking medication, or who had a boozy night the night before but still want to hang out with friends.

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“Making a spirit-free cocktail can be similar to making a cocktail – it needs to be balanced and taste good. Alcohol is very good for extracting flavours from ingredients,” he explains.