Recipes
Drinks from the old books, with and without alcohol. Each one names its source and scales to the size of your party.
Drinks from the old books.
Or start from what you have at home157–168 of 228 recipes
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Always alcohol-freeSoda Nectar, Fizzy Lemonade by the Glass
The juice of a lemon, three-quarters of a tumbler of water and sugar, with a little baking soda stirred in last so it foams: Jerry Thomas’s Soda Nectar of 1862.
Soda Negus, Warm Port with Soda Water
Ruby port warmed with sugar, cloves and nutmeg, then topped in the jug with a bottle of soda water so it reaches the glass fizzing: Jerry Thomas’s soda negus of 1862.
Alcohol-free versionSparkling Apple Juice, an Alcohol-Free Champagne Cider
Clear apple juice and soda water, cold and poured at the last minute: a modern, alcohol-free stand-in for the bottled champagne cider of the 1860s.
Alcohol-free versionSpiced Honey Water from Digby’s 1669 Mead
Honey simmered in water with ginger, a clove and rosemary, then chilled: Sir Kenelm Digby’s weak 1669 mead, stopped before the yeast goes in.
Spruce Beer from an 1804 New York Handbill
Molasses, water and essence of spruce, worked with yeast for three or four days, rested, then bottled for ten: a New York druggist’s spruce beer of about 1804, at one gallon.
Alcohol-free versionSpruce Soda with Molasses
Simple syrup, a spoonful of molasses and a drop of food-grade spruce essence over ice, topped with soda water: the flavors of old spruce beer with no yeast and no alcohol.
Always alcohol-freeStrawberry Ice Cream Soda from the Fountain
Fresh strawberry syrup, soda water and a big scoop of plain ice cream floating in the middle, with a long spoon: the soda fountain’s ice cream soda as the 1890s drew it.
Always alcohol-freeSuperior Lemon Squash, a Lemon Cordial for Soda Water
Lemon juice boiled with sugar, cleared with egg white and sharpened with citric acid, then poured over soda water: Edward Spencer’s 1903 lemon squash. Alcohol-free.
Always alcohol-freeSweet Iced Tea, the 1876 Buckeye Way
Green and black tea made strong and sweet in the morning, chilled in a stone jug and drunk from goblets over broken ice: the earliest printed iced tea yet traced, from Ohio in 1876.
Alcohol-free versionSweet Wort, the Malt Drink Before the Beer
Malt boiled with a few hops, chilled and cut with sparkling water: the sweet, unfermented wort that 17th-century beer started from, made as a modern alcohol-free drink.
Always alcohol-freeSwitchel, the 1856 Harvest Drink
Cold water, molasses, cider vinegar and ground ginger shaken in a jug: the haymakers’ switchel, scaled from the 1856 Harvest Drink to a liter of water.
Always alcohol-freeTemperance Raspberry Vinegar and Iced Water
Raspberries steeped a week in cider vinegar and boiled with plenty of sugar, two tablespoons to a tumbler of iced water: the alcohol-free summer drink of an 1887 temperance cookbook.
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Absinthe Frappé, Shaken until the Shaker Frosts
A pony of absinthe and a pony of water with a dash of anisette, shaken with fine ice until the shaker frosts, strained and topped with seltzer: the absinthe frappé of 1895.
Absinthium Romanum, Roman Wormwood Wine
Apicius’s Roman vermouth: mild white wine steeped for a day with wormwood, mastic, bay and saffron, unsweetened and bitter by design.
Always alcohol-freeAdynamon, Pliny’s Wine Without Strength
White grape must boiled with half its volume of water until the water is gone: the Roman ‘wine’ given to people who were not allowed wine. Alcohol-free.