Five Must-Try Mocktails for Your Next Night In

Three weeks ago, Penn Staters everywhere returned to campus after spending one long month home. Thus began “sylly week,” a week-long celebration of never-ending bar lines and nightly frat parties. The spring semester kickoff was undoubtedly exciting, but it also presented a challenge: enduring long walks in the snowy, frigid weather.

Somewhere amongst the night-long blizzards and 2-degree weather, staying in for the night suddenly seemed like a good idea. So, if this State College winter has you craving a movie night with the girls, VALLEY has the perfect mocktail recipes for a night in:

Ombre Grapefruit Mocktail

What You’ll Need:

• 2 cups chilled grapefruit juice
• ¼ cup simple syrup
• 1 can chilled Sprite
• Grenadine
• Cocktail glasses
• Stir stick or straw

What You’ll Do:

1. Add ½ grapefruit juice and two tablespoons of simple syrup to each cocktail glass
2. Add soda and a teaspoon of grenadine
3. Add stir stick or straw – but don’t stir until after the mocktail is served to achieve an ombre effect!

Tequila Sunrise Mocktail

What You’ll Need:

• 6 tablespoons lemon soda
• 1 cup peach juice
• 6 tablespoons grenadine
• 1 ½ cup orange juice
• Orange slices
• Ice
• Highball glasses

What You’ll Do:

1. Fill 2 highball glasses with ice
2. Add the lemon soda, peach juice, and orange juice to each glass
3. Add the grenadine to each glass
4. Garnish with orange slices or fruit of choice

Pink Pomegranate Sparkler

What You’ll Need:

• ¾ cup sparkling pink lemonade
• 1 tablespoon pomegranate seeds
• Splash of pomegranate juice
• Champagne glasses

What You’ll Do

1. Pour pomegranate seeds into a champagne glass
2. Add sparkling lemonade
3. Add pomegranate juice

Virgin Strawberry Daiquiri (Serves 4)

What You’ll Need:

• 4 cups frozen strawberries
• 1 cup fresh strawberries
• 1 cup Sprite
• ½ cup fresh lime juice
• 1 cup simple syrup

What You’ll Do:

1. Mix strawberries (both frozen and fresh), lime juice, simple syrup, and Sprite in a blender
2.  Tip: Add more lime if you want the drink to be more tart, and more simple syrup if you want the drink sweeter

Virgin Watermelon Margarita

What You’ll Need:

• 1 medium-sized seedless watermelon
• ½ cup fresh lime juice
• 4 teaspoons agave
• 5 tablespoons sparkling water
• 4 glasses

What You’ll Do:

1. Cut watermelon into chunks
2. Using a blender, blend watermelon chunks until pureed
3. Add lime juice and agave to a blender and blend again
4. Pour mixture into four glasses
5. Add sparkling water to each glass

Making mocktails next weekend? Tweet us @VALLEYmag with your favorite recipe.

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