The Most Popular Drink of Summer 2023

🥃 Join 28,143 home bartenders and learn how to make better cocktails at home, for free.

🍹 TODAY’S NEWSLETTER

Today I’m going to be sharing:

• the 6 ways you can enjoy drinks without alcohol,

• the most popular summer drink of 2023 (thanks to Tik Tok),

• how to access my top 20 tips for making better drinks at home.

🥃 ALTERNATIVES TO BOOZE

A lot of what I do revolves around alcohol—creating content about cocktails, owning a gin distillery, writing about drinks, etc. so it’s important that I take a decent break from alcohol every so often.

I’ve gone 8 weeks without drinking and I feel great as a result — full disclosure, I did partake in one old fashioned during my Friday Night Drinks live stream… 😳

Here are 6 ways that you can still enjoy a drink (when you’re not drinking). Keep in mind that you can also use these as a base and add a little liquor, if you feel the need:

1. Shrubs, also known as drinking vinegars, are made from equal parts (by weight) of vinegar (usually apple cider vinegar), sugar and fruit (1 week maceration). Mix with soda or still water to drink.

2. Syrups can be made with any combination of flavours then served like a Collins (ie. syrup, citrus + soda, over ice)

3. Cordials are acid-modified flavoured syrups. You can acidify the cordial with fresh citrus juice or by using citric, malic or tartaric acid. If the cordial is balanced then you can simply mix cordial + soda, over ice.

4. Ferments (kombucha, ginger ale, kefir) - view 22 recipes here

5. Non-alcoholic “spirits” can be used as an alcohol replacement to make anything from a Nogroni to a mock Whiskey Sour.

6. Teas can be used in mocktails to add more tannin and complexity.
   
   I recently stumbled across a Dark ‘n’ Stormy mocktail which was:
   - 4 oz ginger beer (make your own)
   - 3 oz chilled black tea
   - 1 oz salted lime cordial (DIY lime cordial + salt, cinnamon, ginger, pepper & cloves)

Why not try some of these interesting flavour combinations in your shrub, syrup or cordial?

• Strawberry, black pepper + balsamic

• Peach, cardamom + honey

• Blueberry + ginger

• Apple + fennel

🌼 DRINK OF THE SUMMER

Move aside Aperol Spritz, it’s the Hugo Spritz’s time to shine!

I first shared the Hugo Spritz 4 years ago, citing it’s popularity in Northern Italy but Tik Tok has taken the reigns and it’s now apparently the “drink of summer” in 2023.

Elderflower, prosecco + soda. Ooft!

🍋 AUSTRALIAN LEMONCELLO

Speaking of Spritzes!

Have you ever tried a Lemoncello Spritz?

If not, you should…

Today we are officially relaunching our lemoncello. It’s our biggest seller at Threefold so we thought we better put it in a bigger bottle and give it a face lift!

Buy a bottle.

🔥 COCKTAIL TRENDS FOR 2024

I came across an article by The Cocktail Society, predicting the big trends of 2024 and it resonated with me.

1. “Asian flavours such as ginger, lemongrass and kaffir lime leaf” — was their first big projection for 2024.
   
   Fingers crossed Australia follows suit as we recently launched our Tom Yummy gin which heroes those exact 3 flavours!
   
   p.s. you can use the coupon 10OFFTOM to get $10 off a bottle (sorry, Australia only).
   

2. Tea was in spot no. 2 — which seemed serendipitous considering I just wrote about tea in my options for mocktails!

If you want to see the rest of the predictions, check them out here.

✔️ 20 TIPS TO MAKE BETTER DRINKS AT HOME

I put together a list of 20 easy tips to level up your drinks at home. I’m sure there’s at least a couple tips that you’ll find to be useful.

Click here to view it.

😁 Did you enjoy the newsletter? Subscribe:

🎁 GET FREE ACCESS TO MY COCKTAIL COURSE

Refer friends to my newsletter and earn rewards!

Learn more about the cocktail course.