My friend Brooke had her birthday party at our local Planetarium, and as they don’t allow alcohol, she wondered if I could whip up a couple of space-themed mocktails for the event. Challenge accepted. I got out the old specific-gravity tables, ordered up some butterfly pea flower tea, and got mixin’. Of course, either of these mocktails would taste nice with a shot of alcohol (FYI, it’ll float on top…); white rum would be my pick. But everyone seemed to have fun with the NA versions.
The Milky Way
- 3/4 oz. white pineapple juice or pineapple horchata with a squeeze of lime (I added like 3 T lime juice to 1 L of beverage)
- 3/4 oz. 7up or Sprite
- 1 1/2 oz. blue tea with rose water (I made 1 L butterfly pea flower tea according to package directions and added 1 tsp rose water when it cooled)
- 1 1/2 tsp coconut cream (I used a squeeze bottle)
Start with all ingredients ice-cold except for coconut cream; that should be at room temp. Pour juice and soft drink over ice in a 6-oz cocktail or champagne glass. Using bar spoon, layer blue tea on top. Swirl with a spiral of coconut cream and serve with cocktail pick for stirring drink together.
The Jupiter
- 1 to 1 1/2 tsp grenadine
- 3/4 oz. doctored Tang (make 1 L of Tang at 150% concentration and add 1 tsp orange flower water; TBH fresh-squeezed orange juice would be way better here, but I was leaning into the space theme…)
- 3/4 oz. ginger-ale (use a spicy one)
- 1 1/2 oz. spiced hibiscus tea (make 1 L of hibiscus tea adding 1 broken cinnamon stick and 2 small dried chiles and steep for 5 minutes)
Start with all ingredients ice cold. Pour grenadine in bottom of 6-oz glass; add ice. Pour Tang and gingerale over ice. Using bar spoon, layer hibiscus tea on top. Serve with cocktail pick.
The Rookery 