Lower sugar, bigger flavour? Try these 6 cocktails

In the mood for a cocktail, but not the hit of sugar that can come with it? Fair enough. Whether you’re keeping an eye on calories, cutting down carbs or just prefer your sweet treat in the form of chocolate cake and not a cocktail, there are plenty of recipes out there – you just have to know where to look. Here, look here! 

We know cocktails aren’t going to be the lowest-sugar option possible when it comes to drinks (hello, water), but they don’t have to pile it on if you don’t want them to. There are also ways to amend existing recipes if you want to bypass the sugar. As a general rule of thumb, most spirits like whisky, vodka, gin and tequila are light-on when it comes to sugar, and because you usually only add a small volume of these to your cocktail, that lowers it even further.

It’s the mixers that cause the chaos. Juice, soft drink, syrups – these guys are all high in sugar, so if that’s a watch-out for you, go for something that doesn’t stack on a heap of extra ingredients. Or just make smarter choices. Choosing freshly squeezed juice over one from a bottle that’s probably had sugar added is a good idea. Opt for sugar-free soft drinks or tonic. And scrap the simple syrup, or use a sugar-free sweetener if you can’t quit it entirely. Also, soda water is your friend.

Here, we’ve rounded up some scrumptious cocktail recipes that err on the less sugary side (but still slap).