Spirit-free winter drink from Starlite San Francisco

Starlite Winter: A Spirit-Free Winter Drink

Name: Starlite Winter: A Spirit-Free Winter Drink
Yield: 10
Cuisine: American

Recipe: Scott Baird , Starlite , San Francisco

Photo: Joseph Weaver

November 17, 2025

A spirit-free drink with the richness and warming spices to complement the season.

“The elements in this drink are comforting, and winter is a time when I like comforting things,” says Scott Baird, beverage director of San Francisco’s Starlite. For his spirit-free winter-inspired drink, he brings together spiced toasted almond milk and carrot juice to give it richness and body, lemon juice to brighten it up, and warm baking spices for coziness.

Ingredients

3 oz. toasted spiced almond milk
2 oz. carrot juice
1/4 oz. fresh lemon juice
1/4 oz. honey
1 barspoon Champagne vinegar
10 dashes saline solution (10:1 water to salt; or a scant pinch of salt)

Tools:mixing glass, barspoon
Glass:coupe
Garnish:carrot ribbon

Preparation

Add all of the ingredients to a mixing glass with ice. Stir to chill but don’t overdilute. Express a lemon peel over the glass and discard. Strain the drink into the glass and garnish.
Toasted Spiced Almond milkPreheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit, low fan, zero humidity. Spread 1/2 cup of almonds on a baking sheet and place in the oven. After 7 minutes, turn the almonds over and continue to toast. When light to medium brown, roughly 5 minutes later, remove the almonds from the oven and add them to 4 cups of almond milk with 1 tsp. of star anise and about 1 tsp. of cinnamon in a pot. Bring to a low simmer, simmer for 5 minutes, remove from heat, cover and let cool. Strain. This will keep in the refrigerator for 2 weeks.