Organic cocktails aren’t too big in South Africa (yet), but international bars and restaurants are stocking up on a wide range of environmentally friendly cocktails like sustainable sangrias, cocktails mixed with organic wine and back-to-basics margaritas.
Spirits and whisky distillers are also zoning in on the world of organic alcohol and there are already options for organic gin, vodka, rum, cachaça and tequila and there are also a few options for organic scotch. Maker’s Mark is selling sustainably produced made from red winter wheat (instead of rye – which is typically used as the flavouring grain in whiskies).
Organic shaken and stirred
A book by Paul Abercrombie called Organic Shaken and Stirred provides recipes for several different drinks that you can make with organic alcohol and fruits. Abercrombie went to dozens of restaurants to get the best recipes for this book and he says that organic drinks are much better for you because they don’t contain pesticides.
When asked if there were any unexpected discoveries throughout Abercrombie’s quest to find the best organic cocktails, he said “definitely the Jessica Rabbit [a concoction containing crystalised ginger, carrot juice, vodka, sweet vermouth, basil and simple syrup. Just reading the recipe, I was a little doubtful because of the carrot juice, but it turned out to be great,” Abercrombie told Thekitchn.com.
A neat fact about organic alcohol is that it’s lower in methanol (which is hugely to blame for the headache that follows after a night of cocktails), so you’ll have less of a hangover when drinking organic cocktails.
A few recipes:
- Sinners and Saints Whisky cocktail: Use 1-3/4 parts organic whisky, 1 part liqueur (you can choose your own flavour, but try to use an organic liqueur), 1 part fresh pink grapefruit juice and ¾ part Yellow Chartreuse Liqueur. Shake the whisky, flavoured liqueur and grapefruit juice in a shaker with ice. Strain over fresh ice in a tall glass. Float the Yellow Chartreuse Liqueur over the drink. Garnish with a grapefruit slice.
- (Green) Dirty Martini: Add ¼ cup of organic vodka or gin and 1 tablespoon of olive juice to a metal shaker. Shake or stir and pour into the martini glass. Add olive garnish.
- Apple Martini: Add ¼ cup of organic vodka and 1 tablespoon of organic apple liqueur and 1 tablespoon of organic Triple-Sec and a filler (such as ½ teaspoon organic cinnamon powder) into a metal shaker that is half-filled with ice. Shake well and pour the contents into a chilled martini glass. Garnish with an apple slice, and dust some organic cinnamon powder over the drink and serve.
- Organic Sex on the Beach: Fill a highball glass to the top with ice. Pour two tablespoons of organic vodka, Chamboard, and Melon flavouring into the glass. Top it off with equal parts of organic orange, cranberry and pineapple juice. Garnish with lime and serve.
What the mixologist says
Mydeco.com spoke to mixologist Joe McCanta from Saf restaurant about eco-friendly cocktails. The celebrated sommelier and mixologist is passionate about sustainability (the paint in Saf is clay based and they also use eco-friendly fridges), so the next logical step was to start mixing sustainable cocktails with the products grown in-house.
When asked whether people actually care about sustainable drinking, McCanta said there are definitely people who want more environmentally-conscious cocktail alternatives. “There are two major reasons to use organic ingredients. The first reason is obviously to be more environmentally-conscious, but the second reason is because they tend to taste better,” says McCanta.
While organic ingredients are a no-brainer for making sustainable cocktails, McCanta says you don’t have to focus on replacing all your cocktail ingredients with organic products. “We try to source as much organic fruits as we can and we try to use a lot of organic products in general,” says McCanta.
Organic cocktails might not save the world, but small changes like this have the ability to lead to a greater paradigm shift amongst consumers. “The more you preach about it, the more it becomes known. Even when you’re having a cocktail, you can be doing something to help the environment,” concludes McCanta.
The Live Eco team
