I'm thrilled to welcome the amazing Mocktail Mo to the show! Mo is a true pioneer in the mocktail scene and was one of the very first accounts I followed on my alcohol-free journey. After turning 45, Mo discovered she was struggling with alcohol intolerance and was forced to find an alternative way to enjoy social settings. Today, we dive into her inspiring story of embracing mocktails and her passion for discovering the best from Arkansas’ NA landscape.
Mo shares her top tips for navigating restaurants that might not have mocktail options and spills the tea on her favorite alcohol-free wines and ready-to-drink beverages. We also chat about why restaurants seem slow to offer NA beverages and learn about the work she’s doing to encourage change within the industry. Whether you're living alcohol-free or just curious, this episode is packed with fun insights and delicious recommendations. So grab your favorite mocktail and join us for a delightful conversation!
I'm thrilled to welcome the amazing Mocktail Mo to the show! Mo is a true pioneer in the mocktail scene and was one of the very first accounts I followed on my alcohol-free journey. After turning 45, Mo discovered she was struggling with alcohol intolerance and was forced to find an alternative way to enjoy social settings. Today, we dive into her inspiring story of embracing mocktails and her passion for discovering the best from Arkansas’ NA landscape.
Mo shares her top tips for navigating restaurants that might not have mocktail options and spills the tea on her favorite alcohol-free wines and ready-to-drink beverages. We also chat about why restaurants seem slow to offer NA beverages and learn about the work she’s doing to encourage change within the industry. Whether you're living alcohol-free or just curious, this episode is packed with fun insights and delicious recommendations. So grab your favorite mocktail and join us for a delightful conversation!
Buckle up, friends, and welcome to the Thriving Alcohol-Free Podcast. I'm your host, deb, otherwise known as Mocktail Mom, a retired wine drinker that finally got sick and tired of spinning on life's broken record called Detox to Retox. Let this podcast be an encouragement to you. If alcohol is maybe a form of self-care for you, where you find yourself dragging through the day waiting to pour another glass, I am excited to share with you the fun of discovering new things to drink when you aren't drinking and the joy of waking up each day without a hangover. It is an honor to serve as your sober, fun guide. So sit back and relax or keep doing whatever it is you're doing. This show is produced for you with love from the great state of Kentucky. Thanks so much for being here and big time cheers. Okay, hey friends, it's Deb. Welcome back to Thriving Alcohol-Free. You're all in for a treat of all treats.
Deb:
Today we have the OG, the OG of mocktails on Instagram. Mocktail Mo is in the house. Her Instagram handle is mocktailmo, so follow along If you're not following her already. Hopefully you already are, mo. You are one of the first accounts I followed. You were one of the very first accounts I followed. Like I love you. You have such a special place in this space and I'm so happy to connect with you today. So thank you for being here. Well, first of all, I love you right back.
Mocktail Mo:
Oh, thank you. I love all of your mocktails. They're fabulous.
Deb:
They're wonderful, thank you.
Mocktail Mo:
Yes, what was it that you did? Oh, the magnesium thing. I was just yes, yes. So, happy that someone finally did that, cause I kept thinking well, if you have the wrong magnesium, you are not going to go to sleep because you're going to go to the bathroom all night long. And everybody was so generic about the magnesium. When this whole, it's all the same thing.
Deb:
Just put in a little magnesium, you'll be good to go. You'll sleep all night. I'm like no, but I'm clean as a whistle. Absolutely, I'm feeling good. Yeah, the colon is cleansed. Yes, make sure you're not using magnesium citrate For anybody who's listening. If you're making a sleepy mom or a sleepy girl mocktail, it's tart cherry juice, sparkling water or kombucha or whatever and magnesium. But everybody just says, oh, magnesium. We all know what that means. Not all magnesium is created equally.
Mocktail Mo:
No, it is not no.
Deb:
Okay, well, good, I'm glad that spoke to your heart.
Mocktail Mo:
Oh, it sure did. I was so happy to see that.
Deb:
Okay, so what is going on in the world of mocktail moe? I want you to share your story about, like, getting started and living an alcohol-free lifestyle. I mean, you're really, you're such an inspiration. Thank you, thank you.
Mocktail Mo:
Well, let's see. So I started when I could not figure out why I was getting migraine headaches, and then the severity was getting worse. And then I had one glass of wine and was sick for three days and thought, oh, maybe I'm allergic to white wine. And then about six months later I had a glass of red wine.
Mocktail Mo:
I was a little bit sicker and I thought, oh, I'm allergic to wine as you do. You just sort of work your way through it. And then I had an old fashioned with friends and had to go to urgent care. I was so sick and my doctor here's the funny thing is my doctor said I was not washing my hands enough.
Deb:
Oh, like you have C, diff or something, what yeah?
Mocktail Mo:
yeah, and I thought well, that's interesting because in my actual job job I work at a medical school and I teach people how to wash their hands, so I'm pretty good with hand hygiene. So, anyway, I decided to take things into my own hands, as it were, and I did a little research and discovered that I had developed an intolerance to alcohol. Wow, not just the different things, but the common denominator was the alcohol in those drinks. And I thought well, okay, what does that mean for me? Because it was not a sobriety slash recovery story. For me, it was a full stop breaks, don't do this anymore because it's making you super sick. And what do you do now? It just so happened that that was in 2018 and 2019. I thought you know what? I'm going to go and see if anybody does alcohol-free things.
Mocktail Mo:
No one did, and there was a local bartender who said I'm totally on board, let's see what we can do and she invited me and some friends over to the bar and she made about 10 different mocktails and they were amazing and it was so reassuring that that was a possibility. Now, six years later, there are tons of products. It's an amazing abundance of things to drink and it's so wonderful. And we're still sort of at that whole. I'm going to restaurants saying, well, what do you have?
Deb:
And then being pretty disappointed in what they have. Yeah, yeah, okay. So if you go into a restaurant and they don't have anything on the menu, what will you ask them to make? Do you have a favorite that you request? No, oftentimes if they have an alcohol-free beer or an NA beer.
Mocktail Mo:
Oftentimes, if they have an alcohol-free beer or an NA beer, I'll order an NA beer and be really happy with that. I have discovered that. No shade to any bartenders, but oftentimes they get a little hurt when you say I don't want juice and soda water, Because as far as their education is to this day, that is what a mocktail is, and so usually I'll just have water.
Deb:
Yeah, okay, yeah, okay, yeah. It's so funny now. I mean I many times I'll just order sparkling water, maybe a little splash of cranberry juice or, you know, lime, and I'm okay with that. Now, like in the very beginning of my alcohol-free journey, very start of 2021 and very of very, very end of 2020, like it helped me to have a mocktail or like a non-alcoholic wine.
Deb:
It was really really helped me stay the course. But now it's like I'm really okay with like a spin drift or you know, my SodaStream machine working overtime here. You know, yeah. But yeah, did you find that it was more helpful for you in the beginning having making mocktails? Like how did you get into doing it yourself?
Mocktail Mo:
I got into doing it myself because I was actually sort of neck deep involved in it was the pandemic. So everything went virtual, lucky for me. And I started meeting these brand founders and thinking, oh my God, that sounds so amazing, I've got to try that. And I spent a ton of money trying all kinds of things and just started experimenting on my own, which now I'm sort of a mocktail snob.
Deb:
We should change your hashtag right or your handle to mocktail queen. You know, maybe, mocktail snob, we should change your hashtag right or your handle to mocktail queen. You know, maybe.
Mocktail Mo:
Mocktail snob?
Deb:
No, no, not mocktail snob no, no, yes, but you have an elevated palate. I mean you do, I really do, I really do, you really do.
Mocktail Mo:
And my husband, who does drink alcohol, will come home after work and say, oh, make us some mocktails and let's go sit outside and it's so much fun, and he is very into the whole mocktail scene with me, which is great. He also has some ideas and opinions about what mocktails should and should not be. So what I have done is my mission has become spreading this knowledge, sharing this with people If they're open to it. Bartenders are not always open to it because they don't really like that. They kind of feel like you're not the boss to me and I don't want to do that.
Mocktail Mo:
So to people who are open to it, I consult, I try to focus my attention on mainstream establishments and festivals and things like that, just to say, hey, I'm going to knock on your door, we're going to give this a try, see what you think, and expand your hospitality. Not just say you're going to have club soda or lemonade and you're going to be happy with that, but say you know what? Oh my God, I can have a spritzer that's actually tastes like a spritzer I mean really actually. Or a Negroni that's like, oh my God, the flavors are wow, you can actually have that. And not everybody knows that. A lot of people don't, and I'm sort of trying to make it my mission to take our wonderful, beautiful, full alcohol-free world into the world at large.
Deb:
That's fantastic.
Mocktail Mo:
So I mean, I'm one little girl trying to do it.
Deb:
That's awesome, okay, so how are you doing this? So is it mostly like online? Are you going like reaching out to places locally? You're in Arkansas, is that right?
Mocktail Mo:
I am in Arkansas Okay.
Deb:
So are you reaching out, like to local establishments, or more like online, connecting with people, connecting with brands or connecting with, I should say like establishments, all?
Mocktail Mo:
of those things. Okay, great, mo, great and I, for the third year in a row, a local foundation that is a recovery foundation before had never at their gala had alcohol-free options besides coffee, water and iced tea. And they said oh hey, mocktail Mo, why don't you come join us, curate some mocktails? Let's have something good. And in that process and God bless them, in that process I have learned some rules. You definitely try to create drinks that have no resemblance of a specific cocktail that has alcohol in it, because they don't want that.
Deb:
Yep, that's interesting. That's very different, right, because I don't come from it, from a place of recovery. It's like, okay, I just need to break up with Chardonnay. And many of the women I know just were like wine drinkers. It was like, okay, I just need to break up with Chardonnay. And many of the women I know just were like wine drinkers. It was like, okay, just enough is enough. Sick and tired of waking up sick and tired. But I have learned that too. It's like I have friends who are in recovery and they don't want something with a non-alcoholic tequila in it. That's not of interest. That's a huge trigger. That's a trigger when, for me, I'm like, oh, this is delicious. I wasn't a tequila drinker, you know, but yeah, it's good to you know. Just understand there's different segments in the alcohol-free space, in the mocktail space, and be sensitive, you know.
Mocktail Mo:
Oh, absolutely you have to know your audience for sure. Especially when it comes to hospitality. You have to know who all you're catering to.
Deb:
Yeah, who you're catering to. So what's like the favorite thing that they've had at their gala that you've made, that you've curated for them, or what's one of your favorite things you've curated for them?
Mocktail Mo:
One of my favorite things. So I have done and I'm repeating this year because I kind of liked it. It is palm lime ginger beer.
Deb:
Yum Boop.
Mocktail Mo:
And I call it a red carpet mule. They love it. They're happy to bring it back this year, great. And then I did a fun blue tropical kind of drink with some blue curacao syrup and coconut cream and pineapple juice and lime juice. It's very juicy, really fun, tropical. It's very juicy, really fun, tropical. It's very tropical. At home I add a rum alternative and it's really good. Do you have a?
Deb:
favorite rum alternative? Is there like a favorites? I should say it's like asking like what's your favorite child? Like you've tried them all, oh yeah.
Mocktail Mo:
So I'm sort of very fond of Ritual the entire line Yep Same. And I really like Clean Company. Their rum is sort of a spiced rum that I just actually. I recommended them at Dry Atlas and why I like them is because you actually get that rum flavor. It doesn't get lost in all the things that you're adding to it.
Deb:
You still get a nice little rum vibe in there Nice rum I just had actually this week on the pot. Well, coming out this week is episode 66. I don't know when this will be out, probably a month or two, but I was with Ellie Webb from Caleño.
Mocktail Mo:
I have not had Caleño and I want to. The dark and spicy.
Deb:
I'm dying for the dark and spicy is so good, it's like coconutty, it is so delicious. I mean, I was laughing, like sharing on Instagram saying like we need like smell-o-vision and taste-o-vision. You open it and it just smells like you're in the tropics.
Mocktail Mo:
It's so good Anyway.
Deb:
I love to hear, kind of like what your favorites are and stuff. So it's good to know. Okay, I love those names. I love the red carpet mule, I love that. Yeah, it's kind of fun, it feels festive. It should feel festive, right, it shouldn't feel like we're like wah, wah, we're not drinking. True, true facts. Yes, what did you think it was going to be like when you stopped? What did you think?
Mocktail Mo:
okay, I'm full stop, I'm not drinking anymore. I got really sad. I got very, very sad because for me, drinks were an occasion thing, so they were either tied with food or tied with occasions. And, for example, at Thanksgiving, my mother and I would make pumpkin pies and have bourbon with that, because we were cooking with it and we would have some bourbon with it. And then, if we were celebrating something, prosecco was the thing. Sure wonder what will happen, and little did I know that. Basically, the world didn't skip a beat. It was amazing. It was like I want alcohol alternatives.
Deb:
Yeah, Like magic wand, Maktomo's magic wand I would like alcohol-free Prosecco, and then, like Joyous dropped in your lap, Liars Classico, right? I mean like the list goes on and on.
Mocktail Mo:
Yeah, yeah, right. The list goes on and on and on. Yeah, it was like wish granted. There you go, yeah.
Deb:
Yeah, there's no missing out. There's no missing out. So how's the response of like the hospitality industry when you're reaching out to them? What's like the hospitality industry when you're reaching out to them? What's like the? What are the responses?
Mocktail Mo:
Yeah, let's hear the mix. It's very mixed. I oftentimes get crickets often, and then I do sometimes get that excitement of, oh wow, I can do this. Those are things that are still probably in the works, in the pipeline. Do you know what I mean?
Deb:
So it's ongoing, but gaining traction, yeah, no, and I feel like it's taking time for restaurants. There's one of my favorite restaurants here in town. He's got four or five locations, a Mexican restaurant, and he doesn't have any mocktails. Not one non-alcoholic beer nothing, nothing on the menu. And it's like okay, please, not one non-alcoholic beer nothing, Nothing on the menu. And it's like, okay, please, it's time, it's time there's room on the menu for something other than tea and soda there is.
Mocktail Mo:
This is what I did learn about that. Here's the bad part. I did talk to someone locally who does my favorite place here that does the best mocktails, and it is a Central American restaurant and he makes a tequila sour that is just so great. It's amazing Really. I asked him because I was curious why aren't you pushing this? What's the holdup, do you think? Because I think as most, or I thought as most people do well, gosh, you're going to make more money. Well, here's the thing it's they don't. They make less money.
Deb:
Really.
Mocktail Mo:
And he lifted up a bottle of tequila and showed it to me and he says this cost me $7. A regular tequila Yep. And then he lifted up a tequila Yep. And then he lifted up a alcohol-free alternative I mean a tequila alternative and said this cost me $30. And people who have mocktails will have one or two and people who drink alcohol will have three or four. So the margins are bigger on alcohol drinks. So for them it's a financial thing and it is a tougher sell. They don't want to make a large investment if they're not going to get any return out of it. So I think that is also something that we as our community might need to speak to and start having that conversation. I'm not advocating for alcohol-free spirits to go down in price. I think it costs them a lot to make and ship and all of those things. I just think that there's something that's missing that we need to address as a community at whole.
Deb:
Yeah, that makes sense. No, that makes perfect sense. Yeah, okay, as you guys know, I love Giesen 0% wines. Their Sauvignon blanc is my go-to on a regular basis. They recently launched a delicious sparkling brute 0%, which is quickly becoming a fan favorite. I am so proud to have Giesen as the exclusive non-alcoholic wine sponsor of the Thriving Alcohol-Free Podcast.
Deb:
Giesen 0% wines are created through the magic of advanced spinning cone technology to remove the alcohol from their full-leaded wines. The award-winning winemaker Duncan Shuler and his team have done wonders in Marlborough, new Zealand, by creating an entire family of 0% wines with all the flavor and deliciousness you expect from traditional quote full-leaded wine. They're non-alcoholic wines maintaining aroma in the body to create a low-cal calorie wine that never contains more than 0.5 ABV. Globally available, look for Giesen 0% wines wherever you shop for your non-alcoholic options. Their family of alcohol-free wines include the most effervescent member of the family, the sparkling brute 0%, which is absolutely delicious for any celebration. My personal favorite although I do love them all is the Sauvignon Blanc, coming in at only 100 calories for the entire bottle. And, not to be missed, the other members of their 0% family the Riesling, the Premium Red Blend, the Rosé, the Pinot Gris. With Giesen's 0% wines, there's a de-alcoholized wine for everyone and every occasion. Give Giesen a try and let me know how much you love it, and, if you want to meet their winemaker, go back to episode 33 of the podcasts, where Duncan Shuler joined me to share about the Giesen story.
Deb:
Okay, all right. What I was going to say, though, is you know, like in the beginning, did you think you were going to save money? Like okay, I thought the same thing. I thought, like I'm going to save all this money, I'm not drinking. I'm not drinking a bottle of wine a day, you know. And then it's like now I'm buying. I'm literally at Total Wine. I'm buying $100 worth of stuff now, because I'm filling my cart with, you know, gießen and all of the fun stuff right, yeah, no.
Mocktail Mo:
And I still see those posts about oh, save money, yes, go alcohol free, you'll save money. And I thought, well, no, no. My husband had to sort of tap the brakes on me a couple of times when I was overloading the refrigerator and filling up the pantry and everything and he was like, can you just stop for a second, you know second house to fill all the stuff?
Deb:
Okay, you could remember, though, what I was going to ask you. For the bars, though, this is my question because Texas Roadhouse does not have any mocktails on their menu, and it bothers me because I love Texas Roadhouse. But somebody was saying, somebody said in a comment that I posted, saying that apparently, like maybe a drink had been served supposed to be a mocktail, this, apparently maybe a drink had been served supposed to be a mocktail. This is way back in the day. I guess A drink had been served, but it actually had alcohol in it. It was served as a mocktail.
Deb:
So they got in trouble and they pulled back. That's just the story I heard. I don't even know that's true. So how for this restaurant you're mentioning? And they have tequila, that's $7 for the bottle, and then they have the non-alcoholic tequila $30 bottle.
Deb:
How do they make sure, like? How do they differentiate the glass so that when it comes to the table, the guest knows is there a way to differentiate? Or what do you recommend Like, so that you know, you know like, okay, this is they use the right tequila, because it can get lost in translation from the waiter to like it's a margarita she wanted or whatever you know tequila sour.
Mocktail Mo:
I think glassware is a really good idea. However, that's also a big cost for a restaurant, unless they do a separate garnish, maybe because that's cheap. You can do that in all drinks and have a specific something that indicates this is an alcohol-free drink whether it be I don't know, or something, something that it signifies to that bartender, that waiter and then to the consumer this is absolutely alcohol-free. I think that would be easy and absolutely doable.
Deb:
Yeah, I just have thought about that Cause it's like, unless you see the person actually making the drink, putting the ingredients in there, there's like that you almost like. Oh, maybe have somebody else taste it for you know. If you're really concerned about consuming, you know exactly, exactly Alcohol or whatever. So, okay, I don't want to ask like your, do you have like some favorites of like I? I don't want to ask do you have some favorites? I know you mentioned Groovy, so are there certain favorites of non-alcoholic wines that you love? I would love to hear those favorites of some of the brands. I know people would love to hear your short list of favorites, if you don't mind sharing.
Mocktail Mo:
I would love to share. This is the question. When you say oh, especially to a group of middle-aged women, you say okay, so you're alcohol-free. What's your favorite? Red wine, always, first question, and I always come back with Yours. Yours is my favorite, yours is my favorite, and I've tried a few. Really, yours is my favorite Is your favorite, okay, and it is their California Red Blend. Honestly, it's not fancy. It holds up. Love it. I definitely come back for a second glass. Adore it. It is absolutely my favorite. Love that. And then, for fun, I love groovy sangria.
Deb:
Yum, that's so good, it's so good and it's fun it just is fun.
Mocktail Mo:
It's fun. It has a little effervescence and some spices and things in it and it's just great. It's so, so good.
Deb:
A little can. Yeah, yeah, so cute yes.
Mocktail Mo:
I love it. And then, talking about cans, so my favorite is Rosé. I love Rosé. Okay, eins, zwei zero.
Deb:
Yes.
Mocktail Mo:
And Sovi in cans. Oh, Sovi's so good.
Deb:
Oh my God, it's so good. It's the real deal. Yeah, it's the real. I mean it's not, but it is. Yeah, no, but it's the real. I mean it's not, but it is. Yeah, no, but it is. It's the dupe of rose.
Mocktail Mo:
yes, full stop it's the real deal, it's so good.
Mocktail Mo:
And then if I'm getting super bougie and fancy, yeah yeah, I'm gonna have some french bloom sparkling rose, okay, okay, and they just did a reserve. That was a lot of money I don't know how much, I don't remember but it was something that it would be like a very serious occasion bottle of wine, and I haven't had it, but I would imagine that it is delicious. I love them. I love St Viviana. I just tried that at the Mindful Drinking Festival. Oh, I haven't had that. It's the Zero Proof. So good, so good. That's a rosé you had, actually. No, that was a white and a red. Okay, I tried them both and was blown away by both of them. They were amazing. And then Oddbird.
Deb:
Oddbird is fabulous. Yes, yes, everybody's talking about the Oddbird.
Mocktail Mo:
Yeah.
Deb:
We don't want to miss out.
Mocktail Mo:
No.
Deb:
Okay, how about Ready to Drink Cans? Do you like Ready to Drink Cans? Are you a can girl? Adore them. Yeah, same, I'm like. Press the easy button. Let's go put it in the cooler, yeah ready-to-drinks right now.
Mocktail Mo:
My fave is Edna's. I just tried Edna's. They're out of Vancouver and I think they are in the United States, though, so they have a Collins that I added. What did I add to it? Amethyst cucumber lime. The amethyst yeah, so good, wow.
Deb:
So good.
Mocktail Mo:
Amazing. And the Paloma. I thought should I tinker with it? And then I thought no, don't need to.
Deb:
Really Edna's Okay, it's very, very good.
Mocktail Mo:
Okay, I'm going to look for that, okay. And then I really like the Ish Gin and Tonic. Oh, really, yeah, that's my favorite in their whole line. I like the name, the Ish Ish.
Deb:
That's like how I show up for my podcast like 145 Ish, ish, 130 Ish, ish. As you experienced today, poor Mo was like sitting on here. Where's Deb? Oh, deb was doing whatever. Yes, we were in the land of Ish. We were very much in the land of Ish. I'm glad we got this going. Yeah, I'm glad I got it going. Okay, ish is a favorite in the can.
Mocktail Mo:
And then here's another one that I tried, also at the Mindful Drinking Festival. That was fabulous. Also not a specific type of drink, so it's not replicating any cocktail. Specific type of drink, so it's not replicating any cocktail, was it Nolik?
Deb:
Oh yeah, oh, she was at the Mocktail Summit this year. I love her. Her cans are so cute. I love her. Yes, her cans are so cute, nolik. Yes, I'm so glad that you got to try it at the Mindful Drinking Fest. Oh, so good. Are you going to go again next?
Mocktail Mo:
year. Are you planning on going? I want to. I am not sure if I'll be able to.
Deb:
Yeah.
Mocktail Mo:
But it was an amazing experience. It was really. It was sort of like a reunion and going to summer camp all at the same time. It was so much fun and it was so great. It was my first opportunity to see in person all these people that I've known.
Deb:
Like you, brands all these brands, virtually, and the brands I know right, you know them right, you met all the fitter, like all of them were there, everybody was there, love them.
Mocktail Mo:
Yeah, ian and Carla, they're amazing humans, amazing, love them. And yeah, just to meet in person all of those people and get to know them and tell them well, this is kind of what I'm doing and I see what you're doing, so this is pretty great. And then my last one is Curious Elixirs. I am hosting, for the second year in a row, their party here in Arkansas. Great, and cannot wait. I'm so excited. But I love their number four.
Deb:
Okay, I'm glad you said that. Yeah, because they're all very different. The numbers, yes, and it's like you have to know which number. Okay, so number four is your favorite it is?
Mocktail Mo:
It is it's sort of. In Italian it's a blood orange spritz. Okay, delicious, love it, love it Okay.
Deb:
Great, great, okay, this is gold for the listener.
Mocktail Mo:
No.
Deb:
This right here. What you just dropped today is gold. I feel like we didn't talk about beers. Are you a beer drinker? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Do you want to give a couple of beers that you like, or shout outs to those we want to? Know, what are you drinking? What's good? What's?
Mocktail Mo:
worth paying what's worth trying.
Deb:
Well, okay, so because I'm basic, I'm saying, yeah, yep, yep, go ahead. I love heineken zero. I love heineken zero.
Mocktail Mo:
You can find it everywhere, perfect yes, yes, you can, and I love it. Let's see what did I have? Untitled artists ipa so good, oh my lord, so delicious, I love untitled artists yeah yeah, that's really good. I'm just kind of open to beers, though. I'm just sort of like let's go, let's try this. I favor IPAs, and I don't think everyone does. I really dig it, oh, but a not IPA that I highly recommend is Al's out of New York.
Deb:
Oh, I don't know that one Al's, al's out of New York.
Mocktail Mo:
Oh, I don't know that one Al's Al's non-alcoholic beer. Okay, it's sort of a Pilsner. Really good lager, really great. It's very light and good, yeah, nice.
Deb:
I just had Joe Chura from Go Brewing come on as a guest, yes, and just loved hearing his story, but just his non-alcoholic beer out of Chicago just doing amazing things. So, yeah, it's so fun. I feel like you and I showed up to Disneyland early. We got there early, just a little. You got there before I did and I was like, wow, I'm like oh, wow, this is so great. And now they're building new rides, in the sense of all these new brands that are coming out, the park just keeps expanding.
Mocktail Mo:
The playground it's huge. Oh, what we get to do is so fun. And now it's moving into this whole other realm of the THC. Cbd, yep, that whole thing. I wrote an article about Wink on my blog. I wrote an article about Wink on my blog. Okay, I did try it. Now, I am not a person who really seeks out THC or any of that.
Deb:
No, not me. It's not for me and that's okay. I'm like if it's for somebody else, great, it's just not my thing.
Mocktail Mo:
They asked me if I would try it and write about it and I said yes, yes, I will. Okay, and I did. It was very interesting. I didn't get high, it was sort of like it's just relaxing it was just very, very relaxing, so I was happy with that yeah, very happy, but yeah, but that is this whole other section of ride that, yeah, yeah, yeah those are.
Deb:
I'm not looking for the fast pass over there, I'm fine, right?
Mocktail Mo:
no, I'm good, I'm not looking for the fast pass over there.
Deb:
I'm fine, right? No, not really. I'm good, I'm happy over here at this section. I'm good, I like these rides. I thought you were going to say because now so many of the large brands who are not from the non-alcoholic space, the liquor brands are now coming in, like White Claw just came in with non-alcoholic. So it's just interesting. It's interesting to see how things are.
Deb:
I have feelings about that. I've grown, yeah. People are very mixed on it, very mixed. Some are almost offended, yeah, and then others. So it's like it's very interesting, yeah, but the park keeps expanding.
Mocktail Mo:
The park, yeah, is getting bigger and bigger and personally I say bring it on To the big brands. I'm all about it, big Al, come on, let's go. I did try the Martini and Rossi. Have it at home. Martini and Rossi, floreal Really delicious. Wow, it won the best drink in New Orleans at the Tales of the Cocktail. Yeah, it won and I thought well, I've got to try this. It's alcohol-free. And it won.
Deb:
You'll know why as soon as you taste it Okay, and that's like a ready-to-drink, it's ready to go?
Mocktail Mo:
No, it is a driver mousse kind of drink, and the depth of flavor, it's amazing. It's amazing. What did you make with it? My favorite, to be perfectly honest, is tonic Okay, and I have a lemon tonic that I've added with it, but I prefer just tonic water.
Deb:
Okay, yeah, perfect. I love that it's easy.
Mocktail Mo:
That's easy. Yeah, that's my kind of drink it's easy and it's sophisticated, and you will definitely want to sip it during the summer, for sure. Okay, oh, perfect.
Deb:
That's a perfect way to end A good drink for the summer. Yes, yes, oh, I love you. I'm so happy to see you. We did an Instagram live together like a million years ago. I mean, I think it was in 2021. We did Instagram live together. I don't think I mean we've commented here and there, but like it's so nice to be reconnected with you and thank you so much. It is my pleasure. Seriously, I just adore you and I'm so thankful that you have, like, blazed the trail for all of us in this mocktail playground, the amusement park.
Mocktail Mo:
Well, it's fun. I love it. I love doing it. It is absolutely my passion, I love it.
Deb:
Keep up the great work, my friend. You too, love you, love you, thank you. Thank you. This was so much fun, big time. Cheers to you for tuning into the Thriving Alcohol-Free Podcast. I hope you will take something from today's episode and make one small change that will help you to thrive and have fun in life without alcohol. If you enjoyed this episode and you'd like to help support the podcast, please share it with others, post about it on social, send up a flare or leave a rating and a review. I am cheering for you as you discover the world of non-alcoholic drinks and as you journey towards authentic freedom. See you in the next episode.
