Antibiotic Mocktail

If you aren’t yet aware of Lapsang souchong, I’m so thrilled to introduce you to it. While it is one of the oldest teas around, it might also be the most divisive.To some, it smells and tastes like the smoke from a delicious campfire—one that you’re cooking s’mores over after a long rainy day.Others just taste burnt rubber. You can’t win them all.

But love it or leave it, it makes for an excellently complex mocktail. And similarly to the Penicillin, the Antibiotic is also primarily made of ingredients that are healthaids. You’ve got ginger, the famed digestive aid, plus lemon and tea.The herbaceous and citrusy Roots Divino Rosso rounds it all out, not only in flavor but in medicinal intention. Roots Divino NA Spirits are crafted to hearken back to ancient Greek medicinal remedies. Yes, it’s a delicious and unique mocktail. But it’s also basically medicine! With a little sugar.

HOT TIP:

A flamed orange twist will add a little more smoke to the drink, specifically in the initial scent of it. To make one, cut a small coin from an orange peel. Light a match and hold it a few inches above the drink. In your other hand, hold the orange peel with the outside facing the match. Give the orange a gentle squeeze, releasing the oils from the skin. The oils will flame the match and drop to the drink, giving that extra smoke!

—Neil & David

Recipe excerpted from “Both Sides of the Glass: Paired Cocktails and Mocktails to Toast Any Taste” Copyright © 2025 by David Burtka, Inc., and Neil Patrick Harris