Quick: Name a popular health beverage that’s full of antioxidants and other health-giving benefits. Bet you a quart of your favorite that you didn’t mention vodka.
Alcohol has a long history of medicinal use—both with and without doctor’s orders—but in general, it’s not the first thing that comes to mind as a health drink. However, its therapeutic use is often encouraged in moderation, most often for specific benefits, such as resveratrol in red wine, or as a relaxant.
Let’s be honest here: Many people—64 percent of Americans, according to a recent Gallup poll—do enjoy drinking alcoholic beverages. If you are among them, why not choose one that’s environmentally friendly? More and more wines and microbrews are eco aware, but until recently, it’s been difficult to find a hard alcohol that cares.
According to Diane Paulson at Cascade Peak Spirits, boutique distiller of Organic Nation vodka and gin in Ashland, Oregon, even if organic grain is used—a definite plus for the environment—many other ingredients that go into a bottle are potentially environmentally hostile. If the bottle is not certified organic, there’s a good chance that “botanicals, malts or any of their ingredients [may] have been sprayed with chemicals, so the factories that produce the chemicals are polluting the air, water and soil with run off, gases and exhaust.”
Locally conceived VeeV, founded by L.A. brothers Carter and Courtney Reum, is the first spirits company to become certified carbon neutral. The company’s distillery is powered through wind energy, packaging uses sustainable materials, and corrugated boxes are made from 100 percent post-consumer waste.
VeeV is also the first spirits company to donate $1 per bottle sold toward green initiatives—specifically, preservation of the Amazon Rainforest, source of the one ingredient in their vodka that precludes organic certification. Açaí berry, the powerful little fruit the brothers Reum first encountered on a surfing trip, grows wild rather than on a farm (yet is reportedly sustainably harvested), which keeps its eco status elusive.
Açaí berries not only contain 57 percent more antioxidants than pomegranates or blueberries, and 30 times more anthocyanins (said to combat inflammation, cancer, diabetes, aging and neurological diseases) than red wine, they impart a subtle, yet distinctly delicious flavor to the vodka. These recipes make wonderfully refreshing summer cocktails, but VeeV is good enough to drink on the rocks.
Açaí Mojito
2 oz. VeeV Açaí Spirit
¾ oz. simple syrup
4 lime wedges
6 mint leaves
5–6 blueberries (optional)
Club soda or sparkling mineral water
Tear and slap mint leaves to release oils and drop into the shaker. Strain into an ice-filled rocks glass, top with club soda and stir well. Garnish as desired.
Re-VeeV-er
2 oz. VeeV Açaí Spirit
1 oz. blueberry puree (6 to 8 blueberries)
.75 oz. fresh lime juice
.5 oz. simple syrup
Fresh or frozen (wild) blueberries for garnish
Shake all ingredients well with ice and strain into a chilled martini glass. Garnish with the blueberry skewer.
Superfruit Sangria
1.5 oz. VeeV Açaí Spirit
.5 oz. pomegranate liqueur
1 oz. cranberry juice
Red wine
Fresh fruit, for garnish
Build in an ice-filled rocks glass and stir well. Garnish with fresh fruit.
—Story by Abigail Lewis
Recipes courtesy VeeV
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~ Sustainable Monterey Wineries
