Honey Blackberry Mint Mocktails
Ahhh, the mocktail. AKA, the virgin cocktail. The nonalcoholic necessity for any healthy food and beverage lover.
This honey blackberry mint mocktail is refreshing, sweet (but not too sweet), delicious, and much healthier than a traditional cocktail… and best of all, it contains absolutely no refined sugar!
Don’t get me wrong- I love me a traditional cocktail. Zach makes a MEAN old fashioned and mint julep. I’m the cook in the family, but he is the cocktail expert- especially since we got the book Shake. (If you are looking for an awesome cocktail book, this is definitely the one you should get. This recipe was adapted from their “Blackberry Fence Hopper” drink.)
But there are a number of reasons why cocktail (and alcohol, in general) intake should be limited. For one thing, alcohol is basically straight up sugar (which we all know is bad for you), and your body metabolizes it similarly to how it would lots of refined sugar. For another thing, it can put burden on your liver to detox your body. And another- it’s recommended that females have no more than one alcoholic beverage per day, and males have no more than two (minus one point, nature).
When I did the Whole30 in January, I absolutely noticed the difference that alcohol makes for me and my well-being. When I reintroduced wine after my thirty days were complete, I slept horribly that night. And ever since, I notice myself waking up periodically throughout the night if I have any alcohol before bed.
Enter: Honey Blackberry Mint Mocktails. Perfect for sitting on the porch in the warm springtime weather, enjoying life. Perfect for parties as a non-alcoholic option. Perfect for your high schooler’s graduation party or anyone under 21 in your life.
The ingredients are simple: honey, fresh blackberries, fresh mint leaves (all muddled to a delicious pulp), lemon juice, water, and seltzer. Seltzer is important here- do not confuse it with tonic water. Tonic is sweetened (and often has things like high fructose corn syrup in it), and seltzer is not! It’s basically just fizzy water. Much healthier than tonic water.
I recommend the following supplies for this recipe: a cocktail shaker and muddler. If you don’t have them, it’s not a problem- see notes in the recipe below for an alternative.
And if you want these drinks to have a bit more of an adult kick, use two shots of vodka in place of the water :-) Or treat yourself to a rosemary greyhound cocktail or Mint Julep!
The recipe below is for two servings. Simply double, triple, or quadruple the amounts if you need more.
Enjoy!
Honey Blackberry Mint Mocktails
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Equipment
- Cocktail Shaker
- Muddler
Ingredients
- 8 fresh blackberries plus more for garnish
- 1/4 cup honey
- a handful fresh mint leaves about 10, plus more for garnish
- juice of 1 lemon
- 1/2 cup water
- 2 cups seltzer
Instructions
- In a cocktail shaker, muddle together the blackberries, honey, and mint until very well blended.
- Add the lemon juice and water, cover, and shake to mix.
- Strain the mixture into two glasses with ice.
- Top each glass with 1 cup of seltzer.
- Garnish with blackberries and mint leaves.
Notes
- Don't have a cocktail shaker or muddler? No problem! Just use a wooden spoon to muddle the ingredients in a small bowl, and strain through a mesh sieve.
- Like your beverages a bit more adult? Add two shots of vodka to the cocktail shaker instead of water.
- The provided nutrition information does not include any added sodium from seasoning to taste, any optional ingredients, and it does not take brands into account. Feel free to calculate it yourself using this calculator or by adding the recipe to Yummly.
Nutrition
Nutrition Information Disclaimer
The provided nutrition information is my best estimate and reflects one serving of the recipe (total servings indicated at top of recipe card). It does not include any added sodium from seasoning to taste, any optional ingredients, and it does not take brands into account. I use an automatic API to calculate this information. Feel free to calculate it yourself using one of these tools:
Easy and delicious!
So glad you liked it!
absolutely amazing
So glad you liked it!
When I adjust the serving size from 4 to 12 servings, everything on the recipe changes except the juice from 1 lemon. Should I be using the juice from 3 lemons if I am tripling everything else?
Yup, just triple everything if it isn’t automatically adjusted using the serving size slider. Hope you like it!
Totally yummy. Just might become my signature cocktail!
So glad you liked it!
this was very helpful elizabeth
Glad to hear that!
I would love to make these for friends and family I plan on bartending for a party would you be able to help me out with the recipe for just one glass ? Thank you in advance!
The proportions come out to about 3-4 blackberries, 1 tablespoon honey, 2-3 mint leaves, 1/2 tablespoon lemon juice, 2 tablespoons water, and 1/2 cup seltzer for one glass! Don’t worry too much about exact measurements here. Hope you like them and have fun at the party!
This sounds amazing and I’d love to try using this recipe as a drink option at my wedding. Could you help me figure out what would be needed to make a gallon? Thank you so much!
Aw, how fun! What an honor! So, the recipe as written makes 4 servings and a total of about 3 cups. There are 16 cups in a gallon, so you’d need about 5x the amount for just under a gallon (just throw a little more seltzer and maybe a few more blackberries etc. in there to top it off if needed). You can use the servings slider on the recipe card to adjust the amount of servings to 20 (5 x 4 servings per batch). Here are the ingredient amounts at 20 total servings:
40 fresh blackberries plus more for garnish
1.25 cup honey
a handful fresh mint leaves about 10, plus more for garnish
juice of 1 lemon
2.5 cup water
10 cups seltzer
Hope that helps! This recipe is very NOT fussy, so if you need to adjust a few of the ingredients up or down don’t worry too much about it. Have fun on your wedding day, and wishing you a wonderful marriage!
Whoops! One more thing – the “handful of fresh mint leaves” didn’t adjust with the other amounts, nor the lemon – so you’ll need to just use 5x those amounts.
I don’t normally leave reviews, but felt like I HAD to for this recipe! It was a HUGE hit with all us pregnant moms. So refreshing, the honey is the perfect amount of sweet to cut the lemon juice without being overly sweet. We loved it so much they begged for a second batch and I didn’t have any more honey so added a little bit of sugar and it was still delish! Highly recommend this recipe!
Aw this comment made my day!! So happy that all of you liked it. Best wishes for healthy pregnancies and babies for all! :-)
Excellent – good blackberry flavor, simple to make. I will make again. good with vodka also. Only hint – I would not float a blackberry in the drink – it looks like something else (!) that isn’t appetizing.
Haha! Good advice :-) Glad you liked it!
Love, love it!!! We’ve made 3 so far….in one night. Ha! Thanks for the great recipe!
Yay! So glad you like the recipe!!
Can I use sparkling water instead of seltzer?
Yes, that’s fine!
Can the base mixture be made a few hours before and seltzer added as needed?
Absolutely- that’s a great idea!
I love a good mocktail and this one looks so festive. It would be so perfect for a Christmas party especially for those who don’t drink alcohol.
Thanks! It’s seriously soooo refreshing and delicious!
I wanted to make this for a baby shower mocktail beverage. Can I put this in a punch bowl to serve 10-12 people and make the base an hour or 2 before and then top with seltzer once the shower starts?
This is a great idea! Hope the shower goes well :-)