The best mocktails in Vancouver

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A post shared by Time Out Market Vancouver (@timeoutmarketvancouver)

If zero-proof is the mission, start at the Market. Alongside its three full bars, Time Out Market Vancouver has Time Out Express, a made-to-order spirit-free bar devoted to botanical concoctions and other alcohol-free sips. Elsewhere, the Market’s mocktail lineup includes the Almond Sour, Garden Fizz, Raspberry Spritz and Mojito. Grab your drink, order dinner from whichever of the Market’s kitchens speaks to you and settle in for live music, DJs or whatever else is happening onstage.

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The Keefer was making drinks feel like mysterious apothecary prescriptions long before elaborate mocktails became fashionable, so naturally its zero-proof game is excellent. White Lotus combines alcohol-free gin, white vermouth and amaretto alternatives with lemon, orgeat, astragalus, egg white, ube and nutmeg. For something sharper, Ginger Plum brings plum, ginger, lavender and lemon, while Red Letter goes bitter and herbal with zero-proof amaro, vermouth and mandarin shrub. Nobody at the table is going to mistake these for glorified juice.

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Botanist’s drinks have always looked as though someone wandered into a Pacific Northwest forest with a cocktail shaker, and the alcohol-free selection is just as imaginative. First Bloom mixes cherry blossom tea, Douglas fir, yuzu and soda for something delicate and woodsy, while Golden Arrow combines spirit-free gin with passion fruit water, tomato, lemon cordial and rosemary. Then there’s The Gift, a savoury little number involving cucumber, dill, fennel, celery and cornichon. Herbaceous and heavenly.

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SUYO doesn’t dumb anything down when the booze disappears. Its Spirit Free menu is every bit as ambitious as the regular cocktail list. Migrant layers Iron Goddess oolong, yuzu, sencha and bitter melon, while Cusco Cloud gets gloriously weird with pear-tree tea, oakmoss, Calpico, citrus, Andean furikake and yuzu foam. The playful Mamey, meanwhile, combines its namesake fruit with bubblegum Popsicle, green tea, sake kasu, citrus and Amazonian tepache. Come thirsty and prepared to Google some of the ingredients.

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A rebellious Vietnamese restaurant deserves rebellious mocktails. Good Thief’s booze-free drinks happily refuse to play it safe, especially Six Inch Yellow, made with Seedlip, starfruit, guanabana, salted honey, galangal, pineapple and a spicy foam. Hội An Nights brings mangosteen, lychee, jasmine, cacao butter and ube foam into the picture, while Nhậu or Never goes tart and fiery with citrus, charred Thai chilli and pandan. There are homemade seasonal sodas too, but frankly, with concoctions this good, why take the easy route?

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Chambar’s zero-proof menu has enough range to keep abstainers happily indecisive. Day Tripper blends a non-alcoholic aperitif with hibiscus, passion fruit, cold-pressed tea, soda and rosewater; Smoke Signals is moodier, bringing lapsang souchong, elderflower and house tonic into the mix. Want simple and refreshing? The beloved Hibiscus Lemonade remains a winner. 

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At one of Vancouver’s best vegetarian restaurants, vegetables aren’t an afterthought and neither are alcohol-free drinks. Zero Latitude combines zero-proof limoncello and gin with orange-blossom cordial and lemon, while Evening in Verona turns a non-alcoholic aperitif and sparkling cuvée into an elegant spritz. We also have a soft spot for Grey Expectations, where lavender, Earl Grey and lemon meet soda water. Appropriately for The Acorn, the flavours feel fresh, botanical and thoughtful.

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Descending into the glamorous basement of the Rosewood Hotel Georgia already feels like the beginning of a very good night, alcohol or not. Prophecy’s Free Spirits section gets the same storytelling treatment as the rest of its famously elaborate cocktail program. Current standout Paz Verde uses Almave Blanco non-alcoholic spirit with guava, verdita and lime, giving you something bright, green and grown-up in surroundings that practically demand dressing up a little. 

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Carlino understands that aperitivo hour should be available to everybody. Carnevale is particularly lovely, pairing jasmine tea with tarragon, lime leaf and non-alcoholic Prosecco. Moonlight Drive combines grapefruit, lime and dill with carbonated white tea, while Passiflora goes fruitier with orange, hibiscus, passion fruit and soda. Even the straightforward Basil Limonata gets its flavour balance right. Order one with snacks and briefly convince yourself you’ve somehow teleported to a piazza in northern Italy.

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A post shared by Gringo Gastown (@gringogastown)

Nobody comes to Gringo for solemn mixology. Its Like a Virgin menu is cheap and cheerful. There’s a booze-free Virgirita, tropical Step Sun, coconut-and-mint Ms. Tea and the wonderfully named Safe Sex, but the party trick is the Dry Hump Bucket: essentially the alcohol-free cousin of Gringo’s beer-and-margarita bucket situation. Sometimes you want tea infusions and hand-foraged botanicals. Sometimes you want a ridiculous drink in Blood Alley with tacos. Vancouver contains multitudes.