Ginger Ale Is The Bubbly Base For A Creative Spin On This Popular Breakfast Mocktail

Perhaps because of its fresh orange juice, the mimosa is the go-to brunch cocktail and the most common excuse to drink Champagne (or more typically, regular sparkling wine) before noon. That said, it tastes good even if you're not trying to drink, and mimosa mocktails have popped up with various substitutes for the Champagne. These can be as simple as flavored sparkling water like LaCroix or Perrier or a lemon-lime flavored soda like Sprite or 7UP. If you want to properly recreate the punch of alcohol without the wine, turn to sharp-tasting ginger ale or ginger beer instead.

So long as you like the spicy taste of ginger, it works as a great mocktail substitute. Just like with a regular mimosa, the only two ingredients you need are orange juice and ginger ale, so choose your favorite ginger ale brand and mix it in equal parts with no-pulp orange juice in the usual Champagne flute. If you want to nix the alcohol connotations entirely, sometimes this drink is known as an orange fizz, instead. This drink is a bit sugary, but that's the price of the sweet flavors in orange juice and ginger ale, and that sweetness is balanced out by the sourness of citrus and the mild spiciness of ginger flavoring. 

For effect, or to lean into either of the two ingredients based on what you prefer, you can look for orange slices or even a piece of ginger as a garnish. Besides their reputation for being morning cocktails, mimosas also have a reputation for being summer cocktails due to the fresh OJ and are served cold. For a real mimosa, this often means forgoing ice cubes and instead chilling the ingredients or chilling the glass before serving the drink. For a mocktail, though, ice cubes are fine: Just don't let it sit for long enough that the ice cubes dilute the drink (also, your ginger ale will go flat).

If you're looking for a more autumn-influenced mocktail, you can swap out orange juice and mix together an apple cider mimosa mocktail with ginger ale. Add in lime juice, and now it's a sort of Moscow mule mocktail. Interestingly enough, ginger ale and cranberry juice also go together well enough that you could have a deep red mimosa mocktail instead of a sunset orange one. In any case, ginger ale is versatile (even with the strong taste of ginger), so don't be afraid to spice up any sort of mocktail with it.