A pineapple & sage mocktail

November 25, 2021

   

We recently joined some friends in their home for a fun and slightly haphazard night - there was an online wine tasting class for two booked, and those of us who weren't drinking wine shared some mocktails. Low/no alcohol beers, wines and spirits have absolutely exploded in Melbourne this past year, and I used this as an excuse to buy some Brunswick Aces 0% alcohol gin. (It's made right in our suburb, and they've got a nice-looking bar that I'm keen to visit.)

The gin smells like citrus and cinnamon to me, and it's very astringent on its own. We all thought it was terrific and summery with tonic water and a slice of frozen grapefruit. I had also prepared in advance the components of this pineapple and sage mocktail, which we'd enjoyed once before with our Ottolenghi Club.

The original cocktail recipe would have us infuse the gin with cardamom pods and sage, but I wanted to keep the gin unsullied for other tastings and future mocktails. Instead, I added the cardamom pods and sage into the clove infusion of the sugar syrup. I wasn't much impressed with the aroma of the syrup on its own (the sage made it weirdly... seaweedy?) but it tastes very sweet and pleasantly herbal.

   

The other big commitment here is the pineapple. It's roasted in foil on high heat for three hours. By then the flesh has mellowed and darkened a lot. It's easier to peel and slice, and the core is highly visible. I would love to try doing this again for a dessert.

The gin, syrup, pineapple and some lemon juice mix together into a complex, fruity mocktail that's fun to share and ideal at this time of year. The recipe below has very uneven quantities: pineapple for maybe a dozen glasses, syrup for two dozen, and lemon juice for no more than four...! So I'll be mixing and matching my leftovers in the coming weeks.

   

A pineapple & sage mocktail

(slightly adapted from a recipe on Ottolenghi's website)

1 large pineapple, skin on but leaves trimmed (1.4 kg)

250 g caster sugar

4 whole cloves

4 cardamom pods, roughly crushed

22 sage leaves

gin (we used Brunswick Aces 0% alcohol Hearts Sapiir)

juice of 1 lemon

Preheat an oven to 200°C. Wrap the pineapple in foil, place it in a baking tray, and roast it for 3 hours. Allow the pineapple to cool. Cut away and discard the pineapple's skin and core. Puree the pineapple flesh in a food processor, then set it aside (potentially in the fridge).

Place the sugar in a small-medium saucepan with 250 mL water. Bring the mixture to the boil, then turn the heat down to low. Add the cloves, crushed cardamom pods, and 20 of the sage leaves. Simmer for 10 minutes, stirring regularly, and then set the syrup aside to cool. Strain out the cloves, pods and leaves.

When you're ready to drink mocktails, shake together 100 mL of the gin, 50 mL of the pineapple puree, 25 mL lemon juice, and 20 mL of the sugar syrup with ice. Split the mocktail between two glasses and garnish with a sage leaf to serve.