Skip to main content

The Manual may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site.

Get Wasted on these 3 Sustainable Cocktail Recipes that Actually Minimize Food Waste

sustainable cocktail
Photo by Sierra Prescott
The first instance of sustainable cocktails can be traced to the classic Tiki drink, in which fruit shells were used to hold flaming garnishes. However, for the most part, “the bar scene has always been a place of luxury and excess,” says Edwin Cruz, beverage director at Winsome on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles. “The sustainable cocktail movement is a way for us to show we care as much as everyone else about the environment and the impact that we make on it.”

So how do you make a cocktail sustainable? You design it to produce the lowest amount of food waste and attempt to use all parts of ingredients that go into the recipe.

Recommended Videos

“The idea of it came from chefs taking a ‘snout-to-tail’ approach to cooking,” Cruz adds. “Food waste is a huge issue in the average cocktail bar. Think of the amount of fruit scraps, spent citrus shells,and old garnishes, not to mention the disposables (straws, coasters, napkins, picks, etc.) that go to waste. It adds up quickly.”

The same goes for your mini-bar at home, where a whole lemon usually goes bad after using one curl and stalks of garnish rot in the fridge. “The easiest ingredients to reuse for sustainable cocktails are raw scraps of fruit and vegetable clippings/shells/peels. Day-old pastries and anything with sugar works as well,” Cruz says. “But stay away from anything egg- or dairy-based.”

Winsome has limited amounts of storage, so chefs and bartenders share ingredients and come up with an inventive use of everything in house. If the kitchen can’t use a part of the product, they’ll offer it to Cruz. “If they have overripe fruits and vegetables that we could potentially use for a shrub, liqueur, or syrup, we’ll use it,” he elaborates.

So dip your cocktail spoon into these three recipes that can reduce food waste … while helping get you wasted.

Tiki Novela

sustainable cocktail
Photo by Skandia Shafer Photo by Skandia Shafer

Cruz uses pineapple rind (which would otherwise be trashed after juicing the pineapple) as a main flavoring ingredient. He cooks the rinds with purple corn, baking spices, and sugar to create chicha morada, a Peruvian corn syrup, which gives the Tiki Novela it’s brilliant color.

Method: Combine all ingredients in a shaker. Shake well with a pinch of crushed ice (learn how to mix like a pro here). Pour all into swizzle glass. For an optional garnish, use pineapple leaf, pineapple slice, cherry, and lime wheel.

PB & J

PBJ cocktail otium
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Bar director Chris Amirault of Los Angeles’ fine-dining restaurant Otium came up with an ingenious way to put ordinarily wasted piece of burnt toast to good use. Amirault grates the toast to top his nostalgic cocktail, lending texture and a hint of smoky flavor.

Method: Combine all ingredients. Shake. Double strain into a chilled coupe glass. Finish with a sprinkle of peanut butter powder and grated “burnt” brioche crumbs.

The Barcelona

strawberry basil

Created by sommelier Frankie Mace, who’s based out of Amali in New York City, this cocktail makes use of ruined fruit. Mace infuses gin with bruised strawberries and adds dashes of basil, black pepper, white balsamic, and, of course, fresh strawberries. The result is a refreshing, adult strawberry soda.

  • 2 oz strawberry-infused gin
  • 1 oz fresh lemon juice
  • .75 oz simple syrup
  • 5-6 fresh basil leaves, torn

Method: To make the strawberry-infused gin, combine 1 liter of Brooklyn Gin with 1 cup of strawberries and let it sit for 4-5 days. Shake all ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice. Pour into a glass. Top with a splash or two of soda water, and enjoy!

Feature image by Sierra Prescott.

Topics
Jahla Seppanen
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Born and raised off-the-grid in New Mexico, Jahla Seppanen is currently a sports, fitness, spirits, and culture writer in…
How to make the Aviation cocktail, a drink almost lost to history
The cocktail renaissance brought this classic drink back to the forefront
Aviation cocktail

In the canon of classic cocktails, you'll find plenty of well-known drinks, like the Negroni or the Old Fashioned. But you'll also find some lesser-known drinks that are beloved by cocktail enthusiasts but not widely enjoyed by the general public. Included in this category is the Aviation cocktail, a drink known as much for its gorgeous sky blue or pale violet color as for its delicate floral flavor.
The Aviation cocktail recipe

What you’ll need to make the Aviation

Read more
4 simple gin cocktails anyone can make (that taste delicious)
Everyone can make these gin-based cocktails, and that includes you
Gin cocktail

One of the greatest and most versatile spirits in any good home bar is gin, which allows you to make a selection of delicious classic gin cocktails. Some of these recipes can get a bit complex though, but if you're just starting out, you might want a more simple gin cocktails that still taste great.

At its most basic, gin is a neutral distilled spirit (made from barley, wheat, corn, or other grains or ingredients). When it’s first produced, it closely resembles vodka. But while vodka is distilled and filtered to have as little flavor as possible, gin takes a completely different route.

Read more
4 fantastic genever cocktail recipes to get you acquainted with the spirit
Learn how to use gin's elder cousin, genever
Captain Barnacles, Stay Gold

If you're ever learning about the history of gin, one spirit you'll often see referenced is genever. If you've never tried this drink or even heard of it, then you're not alone, as it is rarely seen outside its homeland of the Netherlands. However, it's worth getting to know genever if you're interested in historical spirits or even if you're just interested in trying something new.

Genever’s bold, earthy taste is great for fans of more robust spirits, but if you’re new to it, cocktails are a great way to get to know it better. Here, four bartenders mix up delicious drinks made with genever. Try them at home, and you’ll likely find a favorite new bottle for your bar.
If Bond Were a Dutchman

Read more