Cheers! Year End Reflections and Healthful Mocktails
Cheers! Year End Reflections and Healthful Mocktails
Jhoane Robinson, Herbalist, Co-Founder Cedar Bear Naturales
Cheers to the year's end! As we journey towards the shortest day of the year there are many celebrations afoot. Some are founded in religious and spiritual traditions, others purely celebratory of the year’s end. For many it is a time to reflect with friends and family. For others it is a time to seek solitude and reflect inward while preparing for a new year’s cycle to begin.
Many of these celebrations and get-togethers are historically punctuated with ample alcoholic libations. Though alcohol is traditionally regarded as a celebratory treat, many of us are finding that curbing our intake or eliminating alcohol completely is an intentional nod to our health.
While a few cocktails here and there may be completely fine and fun for some, for others it can set off a cascade of health issues. So, for those who would rather not partake during this holiday season, or those who want to simply cut back, I’ll wrap up this post with my guide on how to build a mocktail worthy of the finest celebrations!
Last month I delved deep into the wonder of the holiday season through the eyes of our young children. This month, as promised, is all about us grown ups!
So celebrate with us as we share our year end reflections, triumphs, and favorite celebratory mocktails for some year end cheer!
Annual Reflections
Each year that passes in our lives, and on this earth, we experience profound change. It is an inevitable part of the human condition. The end of the year is a common time to observe these changes. On a personal level, I find a good practice is to allow in each reflection, going month by month, entertain these thoughts, then release them, letting go of what no longer serves you while holding onto wisdom gained.
On a community level, from your own home outwards to your neighbors, town, city, state, country, continent, and the world at large, you can do the same. Reflect, then let go of thoughts, ideas, and experiences that no longer serve you while embracing all the good that has come through your community in this past year. Hold onto that and reflect it back outward into the world.
On an environmental level, let us reflect on small victories towards a healthier planet, and learn from missteps that may have been made. Every year, and every day for that matter, we have a fresh opportunity to contribute to the healing of the planet and of each other in the process.
Cedar Bear’s Year End Reflections
Cedar Bear’s master formulator, L. Carl Robinson, works tirelessly to innovate our proprietary herbal TincTracts® year after year to provide the most efficacious and cutting edge herbal remedies for everyone’s needs.
As we reflect on the changes and innovations we have experienced in 2024, we are proud of our entire Cedar Bear crew for their hard work and dedication to making the highest quality formulations and to sharing them with the world.
Among our most notable accomplishments this year are the launch of our Women’s Line (hyperlink to web page), our ever-evolving Practitioner Preferred Herbal Apothecary Program™ (hyperlink to web page), and several awards received for Women in Business.
Let’s toast to an even better 2025!
Cheers to Single Herbs!
Cedar Bear offers a small apothecary worth of single herbs for purchase on our website. These single herb TincTracts® are perfect for boosting a formula you already use, or to create a simple blend of herbs for your own personal health needs. They also work great as stand alone remedies.
If you happen to be a practitioner, we offer an expanded and ever-growing apothecary of single herb TincTracts® through our Practitioner Preferred Herbal Apothecary Program™. This program provides the means to offer clients custom made blends and the support to feel confident in your formulations.
Herbs for Holiday Festivities!
A fun and effective way to include single herb TincTracts® in your daily ritual is to add them to teas, hot toddies, and mocktails (simply a cocktail sans alcohol).
All of our Tinctracts® are tasty enough to include in your drinks, but here are a few of our favorites!
Astragalus Root - helps shield and protect your overall health and is a deep immune system strengthener. Strengthen your immune health and increase your energy levels over time with this delicious, honey tasting TinctTract®!
Burdock Root - Earthy yet sweet, burdock’s flavor profile lends itself to a variety of mocktail blends. It is a liver and lymphatic system purifier and is one of the finest blood conditioning and cleansing herbs that exists. Burdock Root encourages healthy digestion and helps increase beneficial flora in the gastrointestinal tract.
Dandelion Root - try this earthy tasting powerhouse in a cider-based mocktail, yum! Highly nutritious, dandelion root boasts a wide range of vitamins and minerals that help build your digestive and liver health.
Elderberry - adds a wonderful berry burst of flavor to any drink, slightly tart, sweet, and floral, it is both delicate and delicious in flavor. Elderberry not only tastes amazing, but shores up your immune system during the most important season to support immune health.
Ginger - adds a wonderful, zippy kick to any mocktail. An activating, digestive support herb that has both a warming and soothing effect to your stomach, it also helps speed up your digestive processes, which helps reduce stomach discomfort. It makes for a good after-meal digestive aid.
Hawthorn Berry - Tart, tangy, and slightly sweet, this herb retains all the elements of berry juice when extracted using our TinctTract® method. Hawthorn Berry is THE herb for building heart health. Best taken regularly, add it to your holiday festivities for flavor and know you're supporting your heart at the same time.
Lemon Balm - Lemon Balm is a mint with a lovely lemony flavor that calms and lifts mood, so it mixes well with many drinks. It has antioxidants that protect overall health and is both calming and mood lifting at the same time as it helps relax and restore the nervous system. Tonifying to the heart a circulatory system, it benefits blood pressure. This herb also supports and stimulates digestion.
Maca - with a nutty, malty flavor, this herb pairs well with hot toddies. Taken regularly, is a health strengthening adaptogen herb that builds energy, strength, vitality, and supports healthy libido. As Maca works to enhance energy, it strengthens the immune system, benefits brain function and memory, and also helps balance and lift mood.
Rhodiola - Sweet with a decidedly bitter aftertaste, use it as you would any bitter element in a mocktail. In a nutshell, Rhodiola Root boosts physical performance, enhances mental function, lifts mood, stimulates the immune system, and supports healthy libido. It is an excellent health strengthening adaptogen that will help boost your holidays!
How to Build a Mocktail
Mocktails can be as simple or as creative as you wish. With the right ingredients on hand, they are fun to make and a very delicious alternative to alcohol-laden beverages.
Start with a Good Base
The base will make up the bulk of your drink, think of it as your canvas!
Seltzers and soda waters are ideal, either flavored or unflavored. Bubbly or flat mineral waters are nice. Perfectly steeped teas, hot or cold, work well too. Or try some unfiltered apple cider for a real treat.
We are living in a time where so many new, healthful drinks are appearing on the market. Go ahead and innovate! Try a probiotic soda or bubbly water infused with fruit juice.
Add Bold Flavors
This is where a splash of 100% juice or fruit nectar comes in. Blueberry or peach nectars come to mind. Cranberry juice packs punch while also beautifully coloring a drink.
Fresh squeezed lemon or lime juice are classic additions. Even a shot of apple cider vinegar can have a place here if blended properly.
Don’t Forget the TincTracts®!
For Flavor and added supportive health benefits: Elderberry, Ginger, Hawthorn Berry, Red Raspberry
To Rev up for a night out with friends: Try using a formula like Energy and Stamina
To calm down at the end of a long day: Add in some Chamomile Calmer, Holy Basil, or Lemon Balm
As a daily tonic to support a healthy stress response: Add in a dose of Ashwagandha and Rhodiola
Layer More Flavor and Add Some Flare
Pull out your muddler or mortar and pestle and add one or more of the following:
Strawberries or any berry that suits your fancy
Fresh Mint or lemon balm
Fresh Rosemary
Any fresh, seasonal stone fruit
Pomegranate seeds
Slices of citrus as garnishes
Muddle some melon for a cooling summertime drink
Mocktail Combination Ideas
Half the fun is learning how to build your own mocktails, either alone or in the company of friends, but here are some combination ideas to get your creative juices flowing.
Cranberry-Lime flavored seltzer, a splash of cranberry juice, a couple dropperfuls of hawthorn berry, lime garnish
Unflavored seltzer, a splash of pomegranate juice, a couple dropperfuls of hawthorn berry, muddled or whole pomegranate seeds, lime garnish
Peppermint tea (hot or cold), a bit of honey, a couple dropperfuls each of lemon balm and holy basil, a lemon wedge at the bottom of the cup, and a garnish of fresh lemon balm or peppermint leaf.
Warm, unfiltered apple cider, a couple dropperfuls each of astragalus, ginger, and turmeric, lemon garnish
Warm, unfiltered apple cider, a couple dropperfuls each elderberry, marshmallow root, and mullein leaf, lemon garnish
Now, go forth and have yourself a merry old time this holiday season, armed with only the finest beverages and Cedar Bear TincTracts®!
WHY CEDAR BEAR?
At Cedar Bear we firmly believe in constant evolution as we formulate, and reformulate, our proprietary TincTract® singles and blends. We are now in our 12th generation iteration of our proprietary process.
Building and supporting overall health, wellness and vitality is a hallmark of Cedar Bear herbs. You will find that the support on a micro-nutritional level from Cedar Bear herbs brings astounding results for your mind, body, and soul.
It’s not just the herbs that makes them so effective at supporting your overall health. When they are made with Cedar Bear’s special proprietary process called the TincTract®, (more than a tincture, and more than an extract, and works better than either!), Cedar Bear’s TincTract® process makes the herbs both bio-available and bio-utilizable, so every drop goes right to work supporting your health and well-being.
Best of all, the TincTract® process not only makes herbs work better, but they taste better, too! And, as always, all Cedar Bear® herbs are totally alcohol-free. They have only three things in them, herbs, glycerin, and water. Nothing else!
Boost your overall health today with herbal products by Cedar Bear®!
Contributing Author: Aubrey Loretta Connelly, MH, NC
(These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.)
