Organic Cocktails?

A Natural Trend

Organic. Green. Buzzwords you’re likely to hear more and more when it comes to cocktails. It’s very “now” to use ingredients normally found in the kitchen, from fresh basil and rosemary to fresh-squeezed juices, even cucumbers, in drinks. Many bartenders are cultivating identities as “mixologists” — those who not only mix, but also create drinks.

Paul Abercrombie's Favorite Drink: French 75 • 1 ounce organic gin (Juniper Green London Dry Gin) • 1 teaspoon organic sugar (or simple syrup made with organic sugar) • ½ ounce organic lemon juice • Top off with 4 ounces of organic champagne • (SergeFaust Champagne) • Small pieces of ice

“It’s a logical extension of the whole organic trend in food,” says Tampa author Paul Abercrombie. “People are rediscovering the delight and the ritual of a real cocktail, which Prohibition had wiped out.”

Abercrombie recently inked a deal with Harvard Common Press to publish “The Green Bar: A Totally Organic Guide to Cocktails.” It sources the best organic spirits, liquors, fruits, herbs and spices along with recipes from top mixologists.

Where can you find a good organic cocktail when you’re not mixing it yourself? Abercrombie cites Sublime in Fort Lauderdale. The W Hotel chain is also creating entirely organic bars. He expects to see these crop up first in south Florida, but the movement’s roots are in California.

Finding organic spirits to stock your home bar is getting easier here, Abercrombie says, but you have to scrounge around some until you find a liquor store that stocks organic liquors.

Abercrombie’s favorite organic cocktail is the French 75. It’s an old-school drink, named after a WWI French 75mm artillery piece. “It must hit with a certain amount of precision or wallop.”

Parents of Generation Y consumers, says Dori Bryant, “are teaching them the more sophisticated style of consumption.”

New Spirits

The Millennial Generation — also known as Generation Y — is “coming into the market and going straight to the premiums,” says Dori Bryant, writer and owner of Polished Palate, a Tarpon Springs event company that organizes tasting events for premium spirits. “Their parents are already teaching them the more sophisticated style of consumption,” she adds. “They’re not knocking back shots.”

Trendy: Asian spirits like a new Vietnamese vodka made from Yellow Blossom rice called Kai and a South American grappa called Pisco, claimed by both Peru and Chile.

Pisco Sour

The Pisco Sour is a refreshing twist on the traditional whiskey sour drink. Also new are ultrapremium liqueurs made from fresh fruits and berries — like the St. Germain, made from elderberries.