Some drinks are for starting the night. This one is for ending it. It is built on Espadafor Versin, a Spanish aperitif in the vermouth style, and it takes about ninety seconds to make.
Introducing Espadafor Versin (0.0%)
Espadafor Versin is made in Spain from an infusion of botanicals - clove, cinnamon, ginger and citrus among them. It is naturally sweet, deeply spiced, and properly bitter on the finish. It was never fermented, so it is 0.0% ABV by nature rather than by removal.
Why This Works as a Wind-Down
Versin arrives sweet, at 16 g of sugar per 100 ml, and finishes bitter. That combination is exactly why it does not need a syrup. Most mocktail recipes reach for honey or simple syrup to give a drink body, but here that would flatten the bitterness that makes it worth sipping. What it wants instead is acid and dilution: lemon to sharpen the spice, soda to stretch it long enough to drink slowly.
Spiced Versin Highball
You will need:
- 2 1/2 oz (75 ml) Espadafor Versin (0.0%)
- 1/2 oz fresh lemon juice
- 3 oz chilled soda water
- One large ice cube, or plenty of regular ice
- Orange wheel and a sprig of rosemary, to garnish
Method:
- Fill a tall glass with ice and let it stand a moment to chill.
- Add the Versin and the lemon juice. Stir briefly.
- Top with the soda water and stir once more, gently, to keep the bubbles.
- Press the rosemary between your fingers before you add it - the warmth releases the oil.
- Garnish with the orange wheel and serve straight away.
Why It Works
Rosemary and clove share a resinous, faintly medicinal note, so the sprig is not decoration - it extends the spice already in the glass. The orange wheel does the same job for the bitter orange in the infusion. And serving it very cold matters more here than usual: cold mutes sweetness, which lets the bitter finish come forward instead of the sugar.
Serving Notes
Versin should be poured straight from the fridge. Keep it there once opened and finish it within a few weeks. If you want the drink shorter and more assertive, drop the soda to 2 oz. Salty things sit well beside it - olives, almonds, hard cheese - which is how it is drunk in Spain.
Shop Espadafor Versin (0.0%) → or read our ten Versin cocktails worth making. There is more in the spirits collection and across our recipes.
