For Kayla Williams, thinking up new craft mocktails is a trial-and-error approach.

Since December, she has been concocting zero-proof drink recipes using foraged plants and homegrown herbs. What she can’t grow herself, she sources from local businesses and farms.

Her Astoria-based business is Mocktail Orange, and over the past few months, she’s served up her creations at pop-ups around town.

“Everything I do is small-batch, and every single thing I make is a different recipe,” she said. “I think about what the land and local farmers have created together and start brainstorming from there.”

Her menus include creative titles like “Dreams of Evening Seafoam,” a mix of blackberry, butterfly pea, mugwort, local honey, lion’s mane, and pomelo juice. Another, “Ode to Brigitte B,” combines conifer bud, local honey and green apple juice. 

Getting creative with ingredients has given Williams a menu that experiments in both flavor and texture, not to mention appearance. After all, part of the experience with mixed drinks, even the nonalcoholic variety, lies in the surprise when it arrives at the table.

“I really just enjoy having a pretty drink, it makes me feel happy and fancy,” she said.

Keeping in the spirit of drinking alternatives, her recipes also have healthy additions. Antioxidant-rich plants, like blackberry, are in her recipes, as are ingredients like homegrown mugwort.

When she’s not experimenting with new beverages, Williams does environmental restoration work and helps regrow native plant species. After foraging rosehips for one recent recipe, she thought to replant leftover seeds.

“It’s important to have a relationship with the land and give back to the land,” she said.

Williams has brought Mocktail Orange pop-ups to local shops, restaurants and private events. Smaller community gatherings let locals bond and come together, and for Williams, community building is an essential part of her mission. 

“I’ve been making elixirs for people I deeply care for throughout my life and wanted to bring that concept to the community,” she said.

Mocktail Orange appeared recently at an opening event for Pier 11 Studio, at a mocktail and pizza pairing at the newly-opened Bluebell Bakeshop and a sip and shop event at Pat’s Pantry. 

Williams is excited to see an uptick in demand for nonalcoholic beverage options. Even without alcohol, Williams said her mocktails incorporate ingredients and herbs that give a little relaxation buzz, like mugwort. 

She has more events planned for the future and also hopes to start bottling small drink batches to sell around Astoria.

 

Mocktail Orange

At pop-up events around Astoria

@mocktailorange