Somedays the best way to count down to a big event is to talk about it on the morning news. This past Friday, August 28, 2026 I was up early to drive to Raleigh NC; back in the WRAL studios with the station’s own Ken Smith. With us, the featured guest of the segment, someone I have watched shine all year long, Sarah McCabe, the 2025 NCRLA Mixologist of the Year. The topic of the segment: The Spirit-Free Cocktail portion of the NCRLA Chef Showdown Mixology Competition.
It had been a full year since Sarah last stood in front of the WRAL cameras after her Championship win.
She first appeared with Ken the morning after her big win in August 2025. This has become a part of a lovely WRAL tradition of welcoming our champions on air. This time, though, she came back to help me give viewers a taste of what to expect at the 2026 NCRLA Chef Showdown Grand Finale, coming up September 2, 2026.
Here’s a fun FAQ. Ken and I go back ten years, all the way back to the very first NCRLA Chef Showdown event in 2016.
Ken co-hosted the very first NCRLA Chef Showdown Grand Finale, with me. And has been a big fan of the competition ever since. So it always feels right to sit a champion down beside him.
Sarah and I both shared a quick look on all the related Instagram and Facebook feeds of what her “As Seen on TV” Spirit-Free Cocktail, called “Want Not, Have Not” detailed. Now, let’s make it easy for everyone to recreate at home. I’m bringing it all together right here, with the recipes and both videos in one place.
A Year in the Life of a Mixologist of the Year
Winning the title is only the beginning. As a 2025-26 Got to Be NC Beverage Ambassador, Sarah has spent the year shaking and stirring her way across the state.
She poured at the Annual Chefs’ Field Trip at Tidewater Grain Company and mixed at the 2026 Dinner on the Gap. She judged both the preliminary and regional NCRLA Chef Showdown mixology rounds of competition this year. And on any given day, you will find her behind the bar at the Lounge at the Longleaf Hotel in Raleigh.
On the WRAL segment, linked below, Sarah talked about her year as the Mixologist of the Year. Through the year, she connected with the North Carolina farmers and producers who sponsor the 2026 NCRLA Chef Showdown in so many ways. These are the growers and makers whose work turns up in her glass. This day it was a locally made Muscadine Vinegar. The same vinegar, made in Wilkes County, that Sarah used when she won the competition. In addition, she used Tidewater Grain Company, Carolina Gold Rice from Oriental, NC; and Miso Master Miso from Rutherfordton, NC.
This is always the part that means so much to me. This competition brings together chefs and mixologists with local NC farmers and producers, like no other.
What’s the Difference Between a Mocktail and a Spirit-Free Cocktail?
Here is a distinction worth making. A mocktail, more often than not, is juice and something sparkly, pretty enough but gone in a few sips. A spirit-free cocktail is crafted and thought through, from the first ingredient to the last.
As Sarah explained on air, the goal is to build a drink you actually want to linger with. That means replacing the viscosity that alcohol brings. The weight and the slow sip of it, and then adding something more. Balance, a bit of acidity, a little heat, a texture that coats the glass. You are not missing the liquor. You are savoring what is there.
The Drink: “Want Not, Have Not”
Sarah’s spirit-free cocktail for the segment is one she calls “Want Not, Have Not.” The name is the whole story. Nothing here goes to waste.
Sarah built it around two 2026 NCRLA Chef Showdown sponsors I love working with. Farmers and producers you have read about here in blog posts, past. Tidewater Grain Company in Oriental, NC is the largest grower of Carolina Gold Rice in the world. She took their rice, toasted it and cooked it down into a simple syrup. From North Carolina’s own Miso Master, she brought in the mellow, savory depth of white miso. Then, she reduced muscadine vinegar made in Wilkes County’s Ferguson NC and sold at Whippoorwill Village . This is added to the cocktail for brightness; followed by a jalapeño-infused lemon oleo saccharum for a whisper of heat. Stir it all together, and serve it over an ice cube made from Tidewater rice water.
Yes, that’s the water you might use to rinse the rice before cooking. (Although generally Tidewater’s Carolina Gold Rice, doesn’t require rinsing at all.) A scatter of dried jalapeños on top, and there is your drink to slow down and linger over.
Watch the WRAL Segment
You can watch the full segment, now up on my YouTube channel, right here. Then keep reading for the detailed recipes for the Toasted Carolina Gold Rice Simple Syrup and the Spirit-Free Cocktail itself.
How Sarah Makes the Tidewater Grain Toasted Carolina Gold Rice Simple Syrup
The Tidewater Grain Toasted Carolina Gold Rice Simple Syrup is the heart of this drink, and Sarah is generous with her how-to. I caught up with her back at the Tidewater Grain Company chefs’ field trip, where she walked me through toasting the rice and turning it into syrup. Watch her explain the whole method on my YouTube channel in this quick and easy video short.
Want Not, Have Not
A spirit-free cocktail built on Tidewater Grain Toasted Carolina Gold Rice Simple Syrup, white miso, and a little jalapeño heat, from mixologist Sarah McCabe
1.25 oz reduced muscadine vinegar
1.75 oz Miso Master White Miso
1.75 oz Tidewater Grain Toasted Carolina Gold Rice Simple Syrup, see video link above
1 oz jalapeño-infused lemon oleo saccharum
1 Tidewater rice-water ice cube per drink
Dried jalapeños, to garnish ( you can dehyrate the same sliced jalapenos you used to make the Oleo Saccharum.
Here’s what to do:
Blend equal the toasted rice simple syrup and the miso and mix well. Add the muscadine vinegar, the miso and rice syrup blend, and the oleo saccharum to a mixing glass with ice. Stir until well chilled and the whole thing takes on a silky weight. Set your rice-water ice cube in a rocks glass, strain the drink over the cube of ice. Finish with a few dried jalapeños across the top. Then do as Sarah intends, and take your time.
* The Tidewater Grain Toasted Carolina Gold Rice Simple Syrup starts with Tidewater Grain Company Carolina Gold rice, toasted for color and depth, then simmered down into a syrup. Sarah walks through the method in this video.
** An oleo saccharum is a classic bar trick: sugar draws the fragrant oils out of citrus peels into a glossy syrup. Sarah infuses hers with lemon and jalapeño for a bit of perfume and a gentle kick.
A Sweet Little Bonus: Carolina Gold Rice Pudding
Remember, nothing wasted. Sarah used half of the toasted rice for the syrup. The other half she cooked down with Ran Lew Dairy whole milk, egg, and a little vanilla into a sweet rice pudding. One batch of rice, and out of it comes a cocktail and a comforting spoonful of pudding. Want not, have not, indeed.
Want to make a rice pudding of your own? Tidewater’s Carolina Gold Rice is definetly the place to start. Here is my most recent post on Tidewater Grain Company Carolina Gold Rice for how to cook it, and a short video for making sticky rice just the ticket for a homemade pudding. And to learn more on how I fold North Carolina’s own Miso Master into everyday cooking, keep reading.
Think outside the soup bowl with Miso Masters Miso
Did you know that Miso Masters Miso is a locally crafted North Carolina product? It’s true! Made by time honored Japanese standards in Rutherford County NC, Miso Masters is the largest producer of organic miso in the world.
And I am here to tell you that miso is not just for soup any more!
Miso Masters miso comes in a variety of flavors. From traditional white to aged red. Interestingly these two very different varieties start with the same recipe. The color and the deep flavor of the red simply come with the aging.
The Sweeter Side of Miso
Use the mellow white miso in place of cheese for fabulous dairy free pestos and add in as a subtley sweet component to marinades, salad dressings and sandwich spreads. Combine the sweet white miso half and half with local honey for a fabulous syrup to drizzle over pancakes. Miso is also great baked into cookies, brownies and ice creams. Or, use it as a base for a wonderful salad dressing as I did here in one of my favorites: My Go-To Celery Cucumber Salad.
See It All at the NCRLA Chef Showdown Grand Finale
Sarah is one of the reasons the mixology bars are always a highlight at the 2026 NCRLA Chef Showdown Grand Finale. Each year of the competition, the six mixology finalists each craft a cocktail using local NC Spirits and a Spirit-Free cocktail for the crowd to enjoy. This is the one and only round of the NCRLA Chef Showdown open to the public. It all happens Wednesday, September 2, 2026, at Bay 7 at the American Tobacco Campus in Durham. Read more about how the NCRLA Chef Showdown started here.
Sold Out
As of this printing, Tickets to the Sept 2 event are SOLD OUT. If you missed the chance to get a ticket, follow me on the NCRLA Chef Showdown feeds on Instagram and Facebook during the day and evening of Sept 2, 2026 for glimpses of all the action. I’ll link the posts that will follow with news of all of the Champions, here.
And then, be sure to give Sarah a follow on Instagram as Sarah Slings Drinks, or better yet, go and see her at the Lounge at the Longleaf Hotel in Raleigh, North Carolina. #TellThemHeidiSentYou
More About Heidi Billotto
Heidi Billotto is the Executive Producer of the NCRLA Chef Showdown, a widely popular annual event benefiting the NCRLA and directly giving back to North Carolina’s hospitality industry. Heidi Billotto is a culinary storyteller, educator, and on-air expert who brings local food to life wherever she goes. She connects small family farmers, independent producers, and regional makers to the people, plates, and media outlets that showcase their work, then shows her readers and followers how to bring those ingredients home to their own tables. Known for her deep relationships, genuine curiosity, joyful style, and sincere passion for all she does, Heidi elevates local food culture on the regular through cooking, teaching, travel, and media.
And whenever you see those five little words, #TellThemHeidiSentYou, know that they are my personal seal of approval. It means I have been there, I believe in the folks behind it, and I am sending you their way with my whole heart. So go on… order everything you need to make this Spirit-Free Cocktail at home and go see Sarah McCabe at the Longleaf. And…
#TellThemHeidiSentYou