Difference between Cocktail and Mocktail

Cocktails and mocktails are two types of beverages consumed all over the world. They are commonly served at bars and restaurants and look alike from outside, so people often confuse these beverages with each other. Let us see how they differ from each other!

Cocktail:

Cocktails are alcoholic drinks made by mixing an alcoholic drink with soft drinks, fruit juices or other alcoholic drinks. So, it is made of two or more ingredients, e.g. a spirit base, flavoring ingredient, colouring ingredient or a modifier.

It can be served before or after dinner, e.g. whisky sour, manhattan and martini are consumed before dinner; sweet and creamy cocktails like frappes and alexanders are consumed after dinner. It is not easy to prepare a cocktail as its preparation involves a standard procedure in which fruit juices are mixed with spirits and alcoholic drinks in the right proportions.

Cocktails are sour or bitter in taste as they contain a significant portion of alcohol. Some of the popular cocktails include Manhattan, Alexander, Dirty martini, French connection, Green Russians. The preparation of cocktail follows a standard procedure as the different components are required to be mixed in the right proportions. Cocktails are consumed by the alcoholic consumers and are costlier than mocktails.

Mocktail:

Mocktail is a mixed, non-alcoholic drink, i.e. it does not contain alcohol or any type of spirit. It is made by mixing different fruit juices, soft drinks, iced tea etc. It is called mocktail as it mocks or looks like cocktails. Mocktails are inexpensive than cocktails and are consumed by those who don't like or want to take alcohol.

Mocktails are generally sweet in taste as they are prepared by mixing fruit juices and sugar syrup. There is no standard procedure for the preparation of mocktails so anyone can prepare it by mixing fruit juices and sugar syrup. However, some mocktails may be sour or bitter in taste if they have undergone fermentation when they are left unconsumed for a longer period of time before consumption. It is mostly consumed by people who don't like or take alcohol. Some of the popular mocktails include deep blue, mojito, fired ice, queens punch, Shirley temple, Italian cream soda etc.

Based on the above information, some of the key differences between cocktail and mocktail are as follows:

Cocktail	Mocktail
It is a mixed, alcoholic drink with alcohol as one of its major components.	It is a mixed, non-alcoholic drink that does not contain alcohol at all.
It is not easy to prepare. Its preparation involves standard procedures in which fruit juices are mixed with spirits and alcoholic drinks in the right proportions.	It is easy to prepare, anyone can prepare a mocktail as its preparation simply involves mixing different fruit juices with sugar syrups.
It is consumed by the alcoholic consumers.	It is consumed by people who do not take alcohol.
It has a bitter or sour taste in taste.	It is sweet in taste.
Cocktails are costlier than mocktails.	Mocktails are inexpensive than cocktails.
Governments of different countries have decided the age limit for the consumers for the consumption of cocktails as it contains alcohol.	There is no age limit for the consumption of mocktails.
It may cause the hangover.	It does not cause the hangover.