“Drink or drive”, there will soon no longer be a need to choose, as there are so many reasons not to – or less – consume alcohol during a good meal. Whether it’s a question of health, pregnancy, religion, the need to go home by car or the simple desire to party without turning your head, until now we only had more or less convincing substitutes for grape juice or non-alcoholic beers.
NoLo is changing everything. Initiated by a few mixologists from around the world, the movement which aims to create new drinks with no (No) or very little (Lo) alcohol content is on the rise. “It’s liquid gastronomy,” enthuses David Toutain. At the start of the year, the Parisian starred chef launched, with his sommelier Fabien Vullion, a soft-pairing to accompany your card. “What excitement to work with herbs, fruits, infusions, roots, seeds, with the same exacting standards as one would for a dish. But let’s be clear, I’m French and I love wine. No question of replacing it, just of offering something else. »
Drink in stemmed glasses
Kombuchas, extractions, maturations, cold infusions, fermentations or decoctions, there is no shortage of techniques to obtain these juices to drink in stemmed glasses, like at David Toutain. But also at Chocho, the restaurant of former Top Chef Thomas Chisholm in Paris, at Anne-Sophie Pic in Valence, at Florent Ladeyn in the North, at Manon Fleury when she was at Le Perchoir with the “sobrelier” Benoît d’Onofrio. Some chefs, like Mauro Colagreco in Menton, also sell their recipes in bottles.
French pioneer of the “NoLo” trend, mixologist Matthias Giroud, dates from the (recent!) time of confinement the interest of chefs and sommeliers in a discipline which until then only interested mixologists called upon to create non-alcoholic cocktails. “Great chefs got into it and it created vocations,” he notes. “Not everyone necessarily wants to drink at the table anymore, young people are turning away from wine… me being the first to be always a little frustrated at the table,” adds Mélinda Guérin-White, his partner.
Since 2016, their company Les Alchimistes has offered soft-pairings such as this distillation of juniper berry, passion pepper, green tea and yuzu designed to accompany Mont Blanc with pear by pastry chef Bryan Esposito, served on the ground floor of the Spring Haussmann. No Lowa recipe book for “cocktails without (or very little) alcohol”, was released last year by Gründ.
“At our place, the soft drinks are worked in such a way that they come as close as possible to the grape varieties, in all their complexity,” explains David Toutain. Fermentations, infusions, extractions… Ancestral techniques serving an aromatic palette of great complexity. » For example, we find a cold infusion made from buckwheat and bergamot to enhance whelks and Romanesco cabbage or an albedo-infused kombucha to match chicory fish. At Chocho, it’s a kombucha macerated like an orange wine to accompany the tournedos Rossini with monkfish liver on a veal nut. “Each pairing tries to get closer to a wine, Muscat or Gamay, by incorporating its aromatic components,” underlines Rodolphe Despagne, the chef’s assistant.
Same story at Nectar, another Parisian restaurant where sommelier and mixologist Alix Duchaud has made it her mission to find an alcohol-free pairing for each dish by chef Aurélien Lasjuilliarias. She thus praises her infusion of black tea, ginger, lemongrass, kaffir lime and coconut which she pairs with fish, “but which also works well with pigeon”, she adds while we enjoy a juice. of tomato drizzled with Worcester sauce on a plate of lamb.
Despite its growing popularity, alcohol-free is not yet unanimous. “It is still only chosen once in ten,” regrets the sommelier. “We do it because it arouses curiosity and desire, even if it is work that takes time,” assures Rodolphe Despagne. To see if the trend is confirmed, the study by Nelly Rodi for The Fork leans in this direction and the marketing of take-away bottles should accelerate its democratization. This is the bet that The Alchemist makes, for example who sells his 50ml bottles between 10 and 27 euros. “Once it is pasteurized, this cocktail can be kept in a bottle for a year. »
Bottles to uncork at home
No party without bubbles? In the tradition of champagne French Bloomdeveloped in 2019 by top model Constance Jablonsky and an heiress to Maison Taitinger, we find Twelve, a brand that has appeared these days, which offers sparkling non-alcoholic drinks with flavors from the Mediterranean basin. Apricot-zaatar to accompany meat, a savory pie, a salad. Pear-anise on fish, cheese, dessert with spices. “At this Christmas time, it’s good to know” emphasize the founders…
We are a little more cautious, however, when faced with the offer of cold brewed teas from Large Gardens, presented in bottles sold for around twenty euros… Twenty euros per liter of tea? “Yes, but these are exceptional teas and the water is carefully chosen,” explains the brand. Star chefs, like Mallory Gabsi, Thierry Marx or Alexandre Mazzia, have even chosen them to accompany some of their dishes. “We’re playing on the element of surprise,” slips the room manager of Onor. As with sake, it sometimes goes very well with a dish. » Mallory Gabsi serves Japanese green tea from Kagoshima with hay-smoked beef and Alexandre Mazzia offers a food, champagne and tea pairing. Ok, but can you imagine arousing the enthusiasm of your guests by opening a bottle of tea on New Year’s Eve?
On the other hand, we were surprised by the quality of the drinks marketed under the Tempera brand by Mauro Colagreco. So yes, he is one of the very best chefs in the world who did not wait for their bottlings to offer his non-alcoholic beverages in his Mirazur restaurant.
A fantastic sparkling wine with seafood, a mineral white for fish, a nice rosé for grilled meats, a (slightly) light red for simmered meat, a sweet white for cheese, a semi-dry sparkling wine for dessert (15 to 28 euros per bottle). It’s not wine at all, it doesn’t even taste like it, just the color. The effect is striking, almost euphoric from being able to drink it without moderation. The secret ? “These are simply herbs from my garden,” smiles chef Mauro Colagreco.