I’ve been on and off with alcohol for the past three years, mainly for health reasons, and partially because I’m not as young as I used to be. But I still say yes to most party invitations and love nothing more than shooting the shit at my neighborhood bar. That means I’ve tried a lot of zero-proof options. I dabble in the world of brewery-backed hop waters and N/A IPAs, mix my fair share of spirit-free spritzes and continue to gamble on the nonalcoholic sections of menus.
Granted, things have vastly improved during this span of time, and lavender lemonades have been replaced by cocktails that take the same time, thought and energy as their spirited counterparts. So I was encouraged when rum-focused tropical tavern The Pink Flamingo opened in Baltimore this spring with an entire section of N/A wine, beer and cocktails. Topping that list is the Road Less Traveled, a bittersweet, spicy and herbaceous play on a mule made with nonalcoholic amaro from Seattle’s Pathfinder, lime, ginger beer and a housemade blood orange–Calabrian chile honey. Each sip ends with a burst of heat at the back of the throat.
While the flavors of the base spirit—including sage, juniper, saffron and orange peel—are complex, it’s the syrup that really provides the cocktail with a proper backbone. Pink Flamingo bar manager Nick Pikounis says the sweetener is inspired by Calabrian chile honey wings that were on the happy hour menu at a former job, and his addition of bittersweet blood orange, he says, prevents the syrup from tasting like a “hot sauce bomb.” The spiced honey has tons of other applications, too, including subbing for agave in the bar’s Margarita, or invigorating a white rum punch. “To me, cross-utilization is the most important thing when designing a menu,” Pikounis says. “It’s one thing to make a really good cocktail, but continuing to use syrups and shrubs is better in the long run.”
The Road Less Traveled (which was named by Pink Flamingo’s owner Brendan Dorr in a nod to its base spirit) could easily stand in for a pre-dinner Italian Buck or spicy Margarita. Its particular depth of flavor insists that you drink it haltingly, unlike many nonalcoholic drinks that can be slurped as fast as juice. Pikounis says that the Road Less Traveled is easily the bar’s No. 1 most ordered N/A drink. “Last week, I made seven quarts of the syrup and ran out fast,” he says. “So I’ll have to double-batch next time.”
It’s easy to see why. I spent a recent happy hour at Pink Flamingo, slowly sipping on the cocktail, as the afternoon sun reflected off the rum bottles behind the bar and illuminated the back wall’s vibrant mural. As my friends drank stirred Jungle Birds and coupes of Cuba Libre, I, quite honestly, didn’t miss a thing.
