Sustainable Cocktail Recipes – Just in Time for Earth Day

Today is Earth Day! And what better way to celebrate our planet than toasting with an environmentally-conscious cocktail?

As the dining industry is being held more accountable to eliminate waste, bartenders across the country have been getting creative with their cocktail recipes in an effort to go green. As a way to counteract the lack of sustainability in the industry, well-acclaimed chefs are promoting a zero-waste environment. World renowned chef Tom Colicchio is at the forefront of this movement, which has influenced restaurants and craft bars to introduce zero-waste cocktails to their menus across the country.

In fact Bacardi has gotten involved in this movement and has decided to remove straws and stirrers at all company and sponsored consumer events. Within two weeks of launching this initiative, they eliminated one million straws and stirrers from landfills. The pledge is expected to reduce the company’s waste and encourage more conservation efforts from businesses nationally and worldwide.

Looking to get in on the sustainability movement? These special cocktails have been designed to be waste-free. So, celebrate Earth Day by picking up a glass, and toasting to the environment.

Citron Jaune (Created by Marlo Gamora from New York City’s Dante)

This recipe calls for home made Limoncello. This requires you to plan ahead, but we believe in you!

1.5 oz Gin
.75 oz St-Germain French elderflower liqueur
.5 house Limoncello
.5 Lemon juice

Method: Shake with ice and double strain into a coupe. Garnish with a dehydrated lemon wheel and a rosemary sprig from the garden.

Dehydrated Lemon: Cut the lemon wheels and dehydrate (150 degrees in the oven over night) and juice the rest of the lemons

House Limoncello: Infuse 6 Lemon peels in 1 quart high proof Vodka for 3 days. Add 1/2 quart of simple syrup and 1/2 quart of lemon juice.

“It makes it no waste by using the lemon peels and juice to make homemade Limoncello. Limoncello can last to about a year in the freezer and it is best served ice cold. Also by cutting lemon wheels and dehydrating, they can be used as cocktail garnishes or in salads. It’s an important trend in bars, because bars go through cases of fruit monthly. By using the fruit in different applications creates little to no waste.” -Marlo Gamora

Pour Ma Gueule (Created by Justin Lavenue from Austin, TX’s The Roosevelt Room)

“Pour Ma Gueule” translates to “For my Mouth”, and is a term used by French vintners for wine that is so good, it should not be bottled for public consumption, instead saved for family and friends to be consumed on special occasions.

Based on the technique in this method, it may not be the easiest to make at home. Be forewarned, this could be for the more experienced home-mixologist.

1.5 oz Gin
1.5 oz Dolin Dry vermouth
1.5 oz Ice-cold Water
.25 oz Maraschino liqueur
.25 oz Verjus blanc
3 dashes Orange bitters
2 dashes St. George Absinthe verte

Method: Combine in a mixing glass without ice, stir well to mix ingredients. In a small ramekin, combine cassia bark chips and dried lemon peel, then carefully light with a torch. After everything begins to smoke, invert a white wine glass over the ramekin and capture the smoke inside the glass to season it for 20 to 30 seconds. Strain the drink into the prepared wineglass. Express the oils of Lime and Grapefruit peels over the glass, then discard.

“This one is cool because it’s zero waste (the used peels and cassia bark are composted), and served just below room temp, which I’ve been seeing more and more (and really digging) as of late.”- Justin Lavenue

New Slang (Created by Schuyler Hunton, the 2016 Bombay Sapphire Most Imaginative Bartender Winner)

By far the most do-it-yourself cocktail of the three, you should be able to find these ingredients at the local market. Just make sure you have an Isi container and a nitrogen cartridge.

1.75 oz Gin
.75 oz cherry shrub
.75 oz pineapple juice
.5 oz lime juice
2 dash salt solution (3:1 water to salt)
3 oz coconut water soda

Method: Shake all ingredients minus soda, add coconut water soda to tins and then roll into Collins glass. Garnish with spent lime shell, pineapple leaves and an orchid. Cherry shrub: 3 parts marasca syrup (the syrup left in a jar of maraschino cherries) to 1 part champagne vinegar. Coconut water soda: fill Isi container with coconut water and charge with a nitrogen cartridge.

“The concept behind the cocktail was to use parts of ingredients that we would usually throw away, like the spent shell of the lime, the coconut water inside the coconuts we use for tiki vessels, and the syrup from the Luxardo Maraschino cherries.  It was a way to use what we originally thought of as waste and turn it into a really great finished product.” – Schuyler Hunton

In an effort to celebrate the great sustainability work that Bacardi, LLC has been doing, be sure to use Bombay Sapphire gin, which is owned by Bacardi, if you didn’t know.