With some cities announcing night-time curfews, and others possibly following suit, home parties are bound to be the flavour of the season. Let your home bar be the talk of the town with these amazing cocktail mixers, ready-to-drink non-alcoholic beverages, DIY cocktail /mocktail kits, and artisanal syrups.
Swa Artisanal Syrups, Bengaluru
Swa is a women-owned small business based in Bengaluru. Swa Syrups are handcrafted in small batches by women trained under a skill upliftment program. “Swa Artisanal Syrups are 100 percent natural, free of any added preservatives, colours or artificial flavours. Try these out to create absolutely delicious cocktails, mocktails, iced teas, and craft coffees. “Made with whole fruits, herbs, and spices; our Indian food culture and traditions are at the centre of all our creations. We are especially proud of our ready-to-mix signature blends like Orange Mint, Hibiscus Tea, Jamun Kalakhatta, Lemon Ginger Naariyal Pani, Summer Berries, Passion Fruit Tea, Tamarind Shikanji, etc.,” explains Vaishali Mehta, co-founder, Swa Artisanal Syrups.
Availability: Swa website, LBB, Dunzo-Bengaluru, and Big Basket
Two Ounces, Bengaluru
Bengaluru bartender and mixologist Karthik Kumar and Prathik Shetty, Owner of The Reservoire (India’s Largest and Internationally acclaimed Cocktail bar) believe that a cocktail enthusiast must be able to enjoy their indulgence anytime, anywhere. This resulted in Two Ounces, which offers a range of cocktail mixers that incorporate natural ingredients like berries, fruits, edible flowers, herbs, and spices. Their first range of seven unique variants includes Salted Caramel Old Fashioned, Black Martini, Mixed Berries Cosmopolitan, Jackfruit Mojito, and three flavours of Ultimate Gin & Tonic among others. Their Christmas specials have three limited-period flavours – Mulled Wine, Golden Egg-Nog, and Winter Grasshopper.
Availability: Delivery only in Bengaluru
Svami Drinks, Mumbai
Svami Drinks have a range of mixers which pair perfectly with gins, whiskeys, coffee, or any other innovative combinations — some of them are the Svami Light Tonic, Svami Grapefruit Tonic, Svami Cucumber Tonic, Svami Original Tonic, among others.
The brand has recently launched a range of non-alcoholic ready-to-drink beverages as an alternate to spirits. It is created with impeccable flavours and botanicals, offering complexity and great taste while being entirely alcohol-free. The first three products in this line are non-alcoholic Rum & Cola, non-alcoholic Gin & Tonic and the non-alcoholic Pink Gin & Tonic. “We have created a range of mixers to elevate the daily drinking experience of our consumers. As for our non-alcoholic ready-to-drink beverages, we have always believed that you do not necessarily need to have alcohol in a drink to make it complex and enjoyable and that’s what we have created with this new range,” says Aneesh Bhasin, co-founder, Svami Drinks.
Availability: Svami Drinks delivers pan-India. They are also available on Amazon and have a retail presence in all metro and are currently entering tier-II cities.
Iceburst – Artisan Frozen Mixes, Mumbai
These ready-to-use, one step frozen mixes with fresh ingredients are great to have on hand. It saves you the trouble washing, chopping, juicing, muddling or garnishing. Each flavour works great as a mocktail once mixed with soda and every flavour has its unique pairing with alcohol.
Current flavours include the Spanish Summer with Cranberry, Apple and Cinnamon; Tropical Muddle with Mint & Lime; Blush Spritzer with watermelon and basil; Botanical Cooler with cucumber, rosemary and ginger and Freshpresso with coffee and vanilla. A limited-edition Christmas flavour called Berry Christmas is also available now. “All you have to do is peel, pop, drop and stir the Ice Burst cubes and enjoy a burst of freshness and flavours!,” says Barkha Tharani, partner, Iceburst.
Availability: Order via Instagram and Facebook or Zomato and Swiggy. They are available in Mumbai and Pune and plan to venture into other cities soon.
O Pedro and The Bombay Canteen, Mumbai
“During the lockdown, if there was one thing we missed were, making cocktails for our guests. The mixers on our menu were put together keeping in mind, guest’s preferences and with different spirits,” says Rahul Raghav, Beverage Manager at O Pedro and The Bombay Canteen. Some mixers currently on the menus are Plum Bellini mix, made with fresh plum compote and winter spices to be topped with sparkling wine; Basil Chilli Bloody Mary Mix, a brunch favourite made slightly differently with tomato juice, basil, and celery sauce, Pedro’s signature hot sauce and lime. There is the Canteen Rose Gimlet and the Tamarind Margarita too.
Availability: Delivery in Mumbai via Swiggy/ Zomato/ through their website page
Perch, Mumbai
“It was during the lockdown that we thought of giving our guests the same cocktail experience we offered, in the comfort of their homes. Our DIY Cocktail kit includes the (non-alcoholic) premix, garnish, and a mixer. All guests need to do is add in a spirit of their choice,” says Shreyansh Patel, assistant beverage manager, Perch. Choose from options like the Coffee Sangria, with coffee-orange syrup and orange juice concoction, best paired with red wine. Also try the Hi-Ball, with salted star anise syrup, cold brew black tea – soda and a recommended pairing with whisky. There are also the Spicy Ginger Shrub, Spice Pomegranate, Elder Tree Cordial, and more.
Availability: Order via Swiggy or call on +91 93213 75915 if you are in and around Bandra or want to pick it up from Perch’s coffee window.
Sepoy & Co., New Delhi
“All our drinks use only 100% natural ingredients and are all low calorie. Our philosophy is to introduce high-quality mixers for the Indian market that not only compliments the best spirits but are delicious to consume as soft drinks by themselves,” says Angad Soni, founder, Sepoy & Co. Try some great flavours like Elderflower Tonic, Indian Tonic Water, Hibiscus Tonic Water, and more.
Availability: Sepoy & Co. ships pan India; order via Amazon.
Jade Forest, New Delhi / NCR
Jade Forest offers a mix of low-calorie and low-sugar Tonic Waters, Ginger Ale and Soda. Try their tonic waters in Elderflower, Premium Indian and Grapefruit flavours. Also, try their ginger ale. “With people more conscious of what they put into their bodies, Jade Forest have their beverages sweetened with stevia and without the use of any artificial flavours or colourings,” Punweet Singh and Shuchir Suri, co-founders, Jade Forest.
Availability: Jade Forest retails across Delhi/NCR. They also ship pan-India, through their website.
Drinktales, New Delhi
Drinktales believes in bringing the classic taste of cocktails to its customers with a twist of flavours. “We offer five premixes that can be added to alcohol and water to make cocktails like the Cosmopolitan, Chilli Margarita, Old-Fashioned, Mint Daiquiri, and Cinnamon Sangria. They are available in a single sachet (for one drink) and a pack of fours. Pour, stir and sip is the way to go,” explains Bhanujeet Choudhry, co-founder, Drinktales
Availability: Drinktales ships pan-India through their website and Amazon. They retail in stores in Delhi/NCR.
SOCIAL
Social is delivering pre-made mixers that go into their signature cocktails directly to your door. From the fiery Bloody Mary to the refreshing Dope Martini, the mixers are currently being prepared at select SOCIAL outlets. And if you are teetotaler, add ice to these mixers, and you have the perfect mocktails. “We have kept the liquor options quite flexible for these mixers because we believe that the customer should have the liberty to substitute their choice of spirit in the drink based on availability in their homes rather than restricting it to a particular spirit, which people may or may not have access to,” explains Mayank Bhatt, brand head, Social.
Availability: Order online, or get the mixers across Social outlets in Mumbai, Pune, Delhi, Chandigarh, Bengaluru and Chennai.
You can also check out:
Jimmy’s Cocktails
Sakura Fresh
Fever-Tree
ArtisanalCocktailPremix
BlendIt
Ruth is an independent journalist based in Bangalore. Always in pursuit of the next story that interests her, loves her food and drink, bookworm and a sucker for sunsets and airplane journeys.
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