Whether it's Hump Day, a summer Friday or you're on a weekend jaunt, there's always a reason for a good cocktail, no? That calorie count, though? Not so much.
Unfortunately, with mixed drinks comes more sugar content, which is not helping your fitness game. But don't you worry—summer fun can still be had. We tapped Billy Ray, Mixwell founder and mixologist at Au Fudge, to share with us three low-cal, highly delicious cocktails.
The kid-friendly, West Hollywood hot spot (co-founded by Jessica Biel) is home to these healthier concoctions—but now you can enjoy these libations without the guilt…and without leaving the house.
First Base
1.5 oz. of your Absoult vodka
0.75 oz. lemon juice
0.25 oz. fresh ginger syrup and 0.25 oz. demerara sugar syrup
3 strawberries, muddled
1 oz. sparkling white wine
2 sprig lemon thyme to garnish
Directions: Muddle strawberries in a cheater tin and add vodka, lemon juice, syrups and ice. Shake and fine strain into a chilled glass and top with sparkling wine. Garnish with lemon thyme.
Bar Notes: "First Base is a good low-cal drink: One, because you're using the sweetness of the Champagne, as well as the natural sugars in the strawberries," noted Billy. "So, in a sense, we're kind of eliminating the factor of sugars."
Little Prince
2 oz. Woodford Reserve Bourbon
0.75 oz. fresh lemon juice
0.75 oz. avocado honey syrup
1 bar spoon of local bee pollen
Directions: In a cheater tin, add bee pollen and muddle, add the rest, ice and shake. Strain into a tea cup with ice and garnish with a flower.
Bar Notes: "When we have something sour, we need to sweeten it out, so instead of using sugar, we're going to use honey," Billy advised. "This is avocado honey—it's a local honey. Honey is better than sugar because it's not refined and what we're doing is we're cutting it in half by adding water. Water down your honey to make the syrup. This helps to make clean-up at home easier too since the honey is thinner."
Paloma
2 oz. Casamigos Blanco Tequila
0.5 oz. fresh lime juice
4 oz. Mixwell Mojave grapefruit soda
Directions: In a Collins glass add lime, tequila and ice. Top with Mixwell grapefruit soda and stir with a knife. Garnish with a grapefruit twist.
Bar Notes: "There's no sugar in this at all, just agave as the sweetener…so if you need to get a sweet taste [in your drink] that calls for sugar, you can substitute [the sugar] with agave," said the master mixologist. The agave plant that Casamigos Tequila is made with is by nature gluten-free."