Organic cocktails: Save the planet and your palate

It's the perfect chaser to the organic foods movement: the organic drinks movement.

Tampa writer and publicist Paul Abercrombie has compiled 100 eco-friendly cocktail recipes in a new book, Organic, Shaken and Stirred: Hip Highballs, Modern Martinis, and Other Totally Green Cocktails (Harvard Common Press). Illustrated with photos of candy-colored libations, the book details concoctions Abercrombie, 41, collected from green-minded mixologists around the world.

Many of the beverages, like the Blackberry Mojito and Strawberry-Basil Martini, can be made with or without organic ingredients. But the emphasis is on organic spirits, produce and mixers, with Abercrombie providing tips on buying, making and enjoying the higher-priced elements. The Roasted Red Pepper Julep uses a puree of the vegetable and organic mint, the Jessica Rabbit is a stunner starring organic carrot juice, and the Tahitian Coffee plays up organic java.

The book is sprinkled with nonorganic ingredients, because some organic elements were not widely available at the time of the writing, Abercrombie says. Now, however, once-rare delicacies like organic bitters have begun popping up in specialty stores. Organic, Shaken and Stirred also contains a guide to stocking an eco-friendly bar.

The St. Petersburg Times caught up with Abercrombie last week during his book signing at Restaurant BT in Tampa.

Your Web site (organic shakenandstirred.com) says you vow to "chronicle the organic cocktail movement." What's the movement?

To me, it's been a logical extension of the whole organic foods movement . . . It's jumped from the kitchen into the bar.

It's logical, but at the same time, people drink to indulge. They don't care how many calories it has, so do they necessarily care where it comes from?

Yeah, I think so. A glass is just a funny-looking plate. And if you care about what's on your plate, you should probably care about what's in the glass, too. . . . Even if you don't care about the organic, earth-friendly aspects of it, often an organic cocktail just tastes better.

When I think organic alcohol, I think really expensive.

In general, it's probably a little bit more expensive to get organic spirits, but not really that much more. It's sort of like (how) people choose organic foods because they're tastier, more healthful, and they're generally produced in a way that's kind to the planet, so it's really not that much different to do the same with a cocktail.

Explain what you mean when you say they taste better.

You're not using artificial, synthetic pesticides . . . There's a lot more care taken with it. Typically, if someone's going to go through the trouble of making something strictly organic, they actually care about it. They want it to be high-quality, really good stuff.

Is there less of a hangover with organic ingredients?

There are some studies and some folks who will argue that there is less of a hangover. . . . I have found, though, with very rigorous scientific study, that 11 cocktails, organic or otherwise, will pretty much feel roughly the same. . . . But the organic will go down a lot nicer.

Dalia Colón can be reached at dcolon@ tampabay.com or (813) 225-3112.