Book Review: Zero Proof by Elva Ramirez

Photo COURTESY OF Elva Ramirez, 2021

Zero Proof: 90 Non-Alcoholic Recipes for Mindful Drinking by Elva Ramirez joins the growing number of recipe books dedicated to helping create a beautiful cocktail experience without the alcohol. Similar to several of her peers in this arena, Ramirez is a veteran writer and food critic with the depth of experience required to pull-off a book that both inspires and entices drinkers and non-drinkers alike.

Zero Proof is thankfully more than just a collection of elevated cocktails without alcohol. Ramirez chose to start this elegant collection with an overview and historical roundup of the non-alcoholic drinks concept, a thoroughly delightful account of when the world began to be mindful of their drinks and how far we’ve come since. A favourite section details the American Automobile Association’s early 1980s mocktail competition, including a stomach churning entry called Nutcracker Marzipan mocktail with condensed milk, Haagen-Dazs ice cream and ginger ale. Thankfully, we’ve come a long way since which Ramirez demonstrates throughout.

this four ingredient drink of OJ, Vanilla SYRUP, Verjus blanc & Birch extract is perfect for brunch. Tyson Buhler, Death & CO, Denver.

I’m particularly proud of the short chapter “How Alcohol Effects Socializing” which lays out some very specific examples of how culture entices us to drink, and why we need to rethink drinking.

As a drool-worthy drinks book, this doesn’t disappoint with beautiful photography and luscious details that leave you excited to turn the page. Similar to many other alcohol-free drink books, you need to be more of a chef and mixologist than a home bartender to make many of the recipes. This is not a collection of Ramirez’s own recipes - although the author’s custom creations can be found throughout. Ramirez went far and wide to gather each gem, from the people behind the best bars in the world. This results in some highly complex approaches to alcohol-free flavours, mouth-feel and the drinking experience on each page.

The recipe for Sous vide french curry soup, and coconut oolong tea add savoury flavour to the Aidan Bowie’s signature drink (AVIARY, NYC).

Although there are lots of drinks with mostly accessible ingredients, the addition of things such as homemade flavoured syrups like the “sous vide french curry syrup” (pg. 148) or hard to source ingredients are often required. It adds an elevated touch to what would be an otherwise ordinary collection of mixed drinks and this is what makes many of these recipes so deliciously exciting. Making great alcohol-free cocktails is a craft, and that’s made clear throughout the book.

In Good Drinks, by Julia Bainbridge, the author categorizes her drinks by difficulty - with the most difficult category possibly requiring a weekend’s worth of time to make one drink. I wished that Ramirez had also similarly tagged each recipe, to highlight the more accessible recipes for the average busy woman looking for something different but intimidated by complicated ingredient lists.

Overall, this is a book for the serious student of mixology, or for someone looking to really take their zero-proof drinks to the next level. The recipes Ramirez shares are all interesting and inspiring and will get you excited to start boiling down syrups and searching the web for just the right bottles to add to your growing zero-proof dry bar collection. If you’re just starting out with alcohol-free cocktails, this is not the place to start immediately - but we recommend you buy the book anyway as you will eventually get bored of mixing zero-proof gin and tonics and looking for inspiration to challenge your new approach to living and drinking!

Available through Amazon, Chapters/Indigo, Google Play, Barnes & Noble and more.