Hawaiian Lemonade & Heavenly Days (Non-Alcoholic)

I've got another two-for-one post on non-alcoholic drinks. On the left there's the pretty simple and tasty Hawaiian Lemonade, which is just fresh squeezed lemonade and pineapple juice. The recipe calls for a pineapple spear, but I made this with canned juice, so there's no spear.

Then the Heavenly Days, the more complicated drink on the right, turned out to be a sugar bomb. The recipe calls for two ounces of hazelnut syrup, which is way too much, but that is used to counter the two ounces of lemon juice. So you begin with a sweet hazelnut lemonade, add some grenadine for color and top with soda and an orange slice. It would be good--and it is rich--like a waffle-cone or ice cream soda. It's just too sweet. After a few sips the sugar rush was far more overpowering than anything alcoholic in the same proportions. The headache that followed was worse than a hangover from half a drink.

So my fix for the Heavenly Days is to use 1 1/2 oz. lemon juice and 1 oz. hazelnut syrup. You'll see the recipe below.

Hawaiian Lemonade (Non-Alcoholic)

• 3 oz. pineapple juice
• fresh lemonade (1 1/2 oz. lemon juice, 1 oz. simple syrup, 2 oz. water)
• pineapple spear (mint sprig used)

Build the drink in a highball glass with ice and stir. Garnish with pineapple spear.

 Heavenly Days (Non-Alcoholic)

• 2 oz. hazelnut syrup (Modify to 1 oz. for less sweetness.)
• 2 oz. lemon juice (Modify to 1 1/2 oz. for less sweetness.)
• 1 tsp. grenadine
• club soda
• orange slice

Combine syrup, lemon juice and grenadine in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a highball glass full of fresh ice. Top with soda and stir. Garnish with orange slice.