Your Guide To Creating the Perfect Mocktail Menu for Your Pool Bar
It’s summertime and your guests deserve to have a nice variety of non-alcoholic options on your pool bar menu. Non-alcoholic drinks are increasing in popularity and having a diverse and delicious mocktail menu will have your customers enjoying summer sober style!
Here’s some tips for creating the perfect mocktail menu for your pool bar:
Keep drinks fun and and be creative
The Ritz Carlton, a 5 star hotel chain, calls their mocktails and non-alcoholic drinks Cocteles Sin Alcohol.
To keep your mocktail menu creative, treat the mocktails the same way you would an alcoholic drink. Use the same amount of creativity in creating your non-alcoholic menu as you would with your alcoholic menu.
Have a nice variety of options
Don’t just add 2 mocktails to your menu and pat yourself on the back. At the least, your poolside mocktail menu should include beer, wine, and mixed drinks. There’s a great variety of non-alcoholic beers wines and sparkling wines that are available.
You can keep is simple - here’s some easy non-alcoholic pool bar mocktails to add to your menu
Margaritas are probably on 80% of pool bar menus, if adding mocktails to your pool bar menu is new, start with the basics. Change the name and call the non-alcoholic version a Blended Sweet and Sour. You can fancy up your non-alcoholic margarita by adding pineapple juice or mango juice. We’ve also included a recipe below for a “You’re A Spicy One” for a cilantro and jalapeño mocktail that I actually had at a California beach hotel.
A Sangria is another great option for a non-alcoholic drink. And as a bonus, the non-alcoholic wine used to make your Sangria can also be served by the glass as a non-alcoholic option.
Pina Colada is another easy mockail to make at your poolside bar. You probably already have a Pina Colada mix so use that as the base. Enjoy Mocktails makes a Zero Proof Caribbean Rum, adding a shot or 2 of our Zero Proof Rum to your Pina Colada is a great way to add that non-alcoholic twist. For the name, call it a Pina Cool-Ada (I know Ada is cool because she’s not drinking alcohol…lol)
The Mojito has become popular on pool bar menus since it is refreshing. A non-alcoholic Mojito is called a NoJito. This poolside favorite uses mint leaves, lime juice, simple syrup and club soda. You can fancy up your Nojito by adding strawberry puree or blueberry puree.
There’s also ready to drink mocktails that would make the making a serving process easier on your pool bar servers. Enjoy Mocktails has a MojitoMule mocktail which combines flavors of a Moscow Mule and Mojito. We’ve added pineapple juice to brighten up the flavors in this non-alcoholic beverage.
Let your customers know that you have an awesome pool bar mocktail menu
Communication is key! Letting your current customers and potential customers know about your nonalcoholic offerings is a great feature. You may also have customers wanting to come visit your hotel or pool because you have such an awesome nonalcoholic bar menu. Also, promote your non-alcoholic offerings at check in and in the room.
Another idea would be to include mocktails as part of happy hour. It’s always important to have your mocktails be as important as your alcoholic drink offerings.
You may also want to partner with a new nonalcoholic company and have them featured for a day. It’s great exposure for the non-alcoholic brand and gets customers to try a new brand.
Work as a team with your staff
Educate your staff about the mocktails. If a customer asks about a mocktail on the menu, your servers should be knowledgable in mocktails and non-alcoholic options. Also, since becoming sober can sometimes be a sensitive subject, it's important to train your staff to be mindful when serving mocktails. When servers understand ALL the cocktails on your menu, they can present the customer with the best options. I'd hate to hear someone tell me, "I don't drink mocktails, I only drink our alcohol beverages."
Also, your bartenders may want to work with your chef at your hotel restaurant to come up with simple syrups, shrubs and other mixes that could be added to all of your drinks for a more craft cocktail and mocktail feel
Here’s some mocktail recipes taken straight from the pool bar menu:
Three Berries
Blueberry, raspberry and strawberry shrub
Soda water
Squeeze of lime
Garnish with some berries
-----
Strawberry Lemonade Cooler
Lemon juice
Simple syrup
Strawberry puree
Soda water
Garnish with mint and lemon
-----
Chocolate Raspberry Martini, Non-Alcoholic
Service it in a martini glass, just like you’d serve your alcoholic martini
Raspberry simple syrup
Milk or dairy alternative
Cocoa powder
Almond extract
Shake in a drink shaker over ice,
Drizzle chocolate in the glass
Pour into the glass the shaken Chocolate Raspberry Martini
(Our Enjoy Mocktails Framboise would be a great addition to this drink)
-----
You’re a Spicy One (our take on a spicy margarita)
Jalapeno cilantro simple syrup
Lime juice
Sweet and sour mix
Soda water
------
Palomita
Grapefruit juice
Honey-lavender simple syrup
Jarritos grapefruit soda
If your pool bar is looking for wholesale products, or if you want to stock up on a summer time bar, we have volume discounts. The volume discounts are our version of wholesale products. Our volume discounts start at 4 bottles and you can mix and match for the volume discount price, that is taken off at checkout. Shop Enjoy Mocktails for your non-alcoholic pool bar.