Why We Make a Non-Alcoholic Wisconsin Old Fashioned Mocktail

We are starting a series of blog posts answering questions people ask us about Mock & Co. Up first: People often ask us why we started our non-alcoholic mocktail business with NA versions of the traditional Wisconsin Old Fashioned. 

The short answer is that we love Wisconsin Old Fashioneds! When we (Cailin and Firoz) decided to cut back on our own drinking a couple of years ago, we weren’t happy with our options, either in NA beers, ready-to-drink (RTD) mocktails, or even most of the bartender-made alcohol-free drinks we were finding. We started playing around with recipes at home, and we kept coming back to a familiar set of flavors - cherry, orange (Back then, our home mocktail recipe included kombucha - perhaps we can make another blog post later about why we moved away from that when we started thinking seriously about mass production.)

For those who haven’t enjoyed a classic Wisconsin Old Fashioned, let’s take a moment to explain that the Old Fashioneds around here are significantly different from Old Fashioneds anywhere else. A classic traditional Wisconsin Old Fashioned starts with a cherry and slice of orange muddled at the bottom of the glass, along with a sugar cube that dissolves when the liquid is added Most Wisconsinites order their Old Fashioned with brandy, though some prefer whiskey. A sweet Old Fashioned is topped off with a lemon-lime soda (7 Up or Sprite) while a sour is topped off with a grapefruit soda (Squirt may be the only one in that category!). For those with less of a sweet tooth, the “press” Old Fashioned uses half lemon-lime soda and half plain club soda. Add another cherry and orange slice for garnish, and you are all-in on Wisconsin’s cocktail culture.

As we were experimenting with our homemade mocktails, we kept playing with the flavors of a classic Wisconsin Old Fashioned, and started to think we were on to something. We shared it with some of our most discerning friends and got helpful feedback that pushed us to get the recipe even closer to mimicking a Brandy Wisconsin Old Fashioned without the alcohol. The depth and complexity of flavor that people love in our premium mocktails comes from a unique blend of custom, water-based bitters, juice concentrates, extracts, and a few drops of alcohol-based extracts are why our drinks are not “zero-proof” but still meet the non-alcoholic limit of having less than 0.5% alcohol by volume.)

So, that’s the story of how we came to make NA Wisconsin Old Fashioneds here at Mock & Co.. We released the Sweet first, then the No Added Sugar and the Sour, plus a Spiced Cranberry seasonal option around the holidays. We may continue to play with the Wisconsin Old Fashioned theme (Appleton Old Fashioned, anyone?) - but we are about to branch out into NA versions of some other classic cocktails. Stay tuned!