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For the past few years my husband has celebrated “Dry January”. For those unfamiliar, it is the practice of an alcohol-free January, often in an effort to detoxify after some heavy drinking during the holidays or to set yourself up for a healthy, fresh start in the new year. For this post, I have created a craft mocktail, in support of those of you out there who celebrate “Dry January” and for those of you who choose to abstain from alcohol for a wonderful array of other good reasons. A number of people I know on similar medication to what I have taken for Lupus tell me their doctors suggest they reduce their alcohol consumption, or eliminate it entirely. If that rings a bell, then this recipe is for you!

My goal is always to incorporate something I have grown in my garden into all my recipes, and my cocktail recipes are no different. This Pepper Leaf Craft Mocktail incorporates both basil and a little spicy jalapeño from my garden. (Now in reality it is January, and my basil and peppers were finished for the season a while ago, but come summer they will be back in business, and right back in my mocktails and cocktails.)

This recipe is also inspired by my favorite cocktail from my favorite restaurant, interestingly found in the Denver Airport, called Root Down. Every year we travel to see my husband’s college best friend and his family in Colorado, and it has become our long-standing tradition to eat at Root Down…and this means both on our way into town AND on our way out.

The Root Down version of the cocktail is called the Pepper Blossom and every year I look forward to it the way a kid looks forward to Christmas. It is gin based and has a complex combination of flavors, from savory, to sweet, to spice. The Pepper Leaf takes the key ingredients of the Pepper Blossom and adapts them to a non-alcoholic version, using my amazing, homemade “Gin Tea”. It is so delicious, I swear you could give it to your biggest cocktail connoisseur, call it a cocktail, and they would not know the difference.

Now, I know there are people who are just generally opposed to gin, mostly due to the expectation of a strong “pine flavor”, as I hear it described. With a well-balanced craft cocktail, the pine (or juniper) flavor should blend in and be only one piece of the flavor profile. So, I ask my gin haters out there to bear with me for a little longer and just give this amazing mocktail a try.

The fun part about the Pepper Leaf Craft Mocktail is that you have to do some pre-planning to create a two of the ingredients, which will make you feel especially gourmet and a little like Martha Stewart. The day before, you will lovingly create a batch of “Gin Tea” and a batch of Jalapeño Simple Syrup. But do not let that intimidate you. Both are incredibly simple to make and only take a few minutes to prep. The rest of the time is just spent waiting for them to be ready. Plus, you are making a batch, which means you can throw them in the fridge and use them over and over for the next week to make more and more mocktails (and cocktails). If you forget to make the “Gin Tea” the day before, just make it in the morning and steep until Happy Hour!