Black Widow: A Terrifyingly Tasty Non-Alcoholic Halloween Cocktail
/A new non-alcoholic amaro from Italy is a perfectly bitter option for a black widow-style mocktail
It’s the perfect time of year to make dark, spooky macabre mocktails and what better way to frighten your tastebuds than with something bitter that bites back! This non-alcoholic cocktail combines a new non-alcoholic amaro with blackberries and citrus for a fresh take on the black widow cocktail.
What is an amaro, and can they be non-alcoholic?
Italian bitters, otherwise known as amaros in Italy, are one of the superstars of the non-alcoholic drinks category. They taste pretty spooky for the uninitiated! Aside from the aperol and campari non-alcoholic dupes out there, there aren’t many amaros truly replicating the more exotic and complex amaros like Frenet, known for how herbal and bitterly boozy it is. That’s why it was so exciting to get a bottle of Dr. Zero Zero, a non-alcoholic aperitif made in Italy that attempts to replicate the experience of a more medicinal, herbal option for those of us looking for a terrifyingly tasty cocktail - without the terrifyingly terrible hangover.
Dr. Zero Zero can be purchased in the U.S. via Amazon HERE.
In Canada via The Sobr Market.
How to use a non-alcoholic amaro in a mocktail
Before crafting a recipe with a non-alcoholic amaro, it’s important to look at the ingredient list because they can be extremely pungent. Dr Zero Zero has sage, rhubarb, wormwood and several other bitter herbs, so using lemon vs lime vs grapefruit can make or break a mocktail. Sometimes it takes some experimentation to get the right combo of ingredients that suits your taste buds.
For an easy recipe, just add some ginger beer and an oz of Dr. Zero Zero over ice and it makes for a pretty tasty digestif after dinner.
The recipe that follows is a little more advanced, but brings out the flavour in this Italian non-alcoholic amaro in a perfectly frightful way!
Ingredients
Black sugar or salt for rim
4-5 blackberries
1.5 oz Dr. Zero Zero
1 oz simple syrup
1 oz lemon juice
Pinch of salt
A few dashes of All The Bitter alcohol-free orange bitters
Optional tonic water to top up
**You could add a tsp of activated charcoal to make it truly black - we like that it looks like blood though - a little bit spookier!
For the rim:
Paint some simple syrup around the rim of your glass and roll it into the black sugar or salt
Building the cocktail:
Muddle blackberries in a cocktail shaker.
Add the next four ingredients (and activated charcoal if you’re using)
Add ice and shake to chill
Strain with a hawthorne strainer into your prepared coupe glass
Top up with soda water or tonic water
Optional: Add cocktail glitter for a swirly black glitter effect, and add a blackberry to a cocktail pick for garnish
Black Widow Non-alcoholic Hallowe'en Cocktail
Ingredients
- Black sugar or salt for rim
- 4-5 blackberries
- 1.5 oz Dr. Zero Zero
- 1 oz simple syrup
- 1 oz lemon juice
- Pinch of salt
- A few dashes of orange bitters
- Optional tonic water to top up
- **You could add a tsp of activated charcoal to make it truly black - we like that it looks like blood though - a little bit spookier!
Instructions
- Paint some simple syrup around the rim of your glass
- Roll it into the black sugar or salt
- Muddle blackberries in a cocktail shaker.
- Add the next four ingredients (and activated charcoal if you’re using)
- Add ice and shake to chill
- Strain with a hawthorne strainer into your prepared coupe glass
- Top up with soda water or tonic water
- Optional: Add cocktail glitter for a swirly black glitter effect, and add a blackberry to a cocktail pick for garnish
