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ONE NEEDS NO excuse to order a cocktail. The pure pleasure of sipping is reason enough. But there are times when a drink serves an additional, culinary purpose. An aperitif before dinner teases the appetite and awakens the palate. A digestif offers burning clarity and a welcome, stomach-calming astringency at the end of a meal. Until very recently, however, if you weren’t drinking alcohol, there was little of interest to serve these tasty functions. Sure, you could order fruit punches and sugary mocktails, but nothing with the finesse of a well-conceived cocktail. Nothing, in other words, that hit that ideal…