Dirty Martini, Carbon-Clean Alcohol: Eco-friendly Booze and Summer’s Best Cocktail Recipe

Even if you like your martinis dirty, you still want your alcohol clean. But it’s hard enough to pick a specialty cocktail at happy hour, let alone figure out which spirit is the most eco-friendly. A good rule of thumb is to look for the USDA Certified Organic label. If you’re drinking C.O. alcohol, it was made from ingredients grown without pesticides or insecticides on certified organic farms and processed without chemicals in a certified organic distillery. A great example of this is TRU Organic Spirits, which makes vodka and gin that are not only certified organic, they’re also carbon negative. Say whut? Yup, because they use lightweight bottles, recycled and recyclable materials, and dual-use packaging (TRU shipping boxes convert into shelf displays), and plant a tree in South America for every bottle they produce, two small ounces of TRU help remove 62 kgs of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. But what’s really important in a cocktail? All this eco-mumbo jumbo aside, it comes down to just one thing: Taste. And to that end, we got in touch with Mathew Scheiner, head mixologist at GustOrganics in New York, the first Certified Organic bar in the country. We’re dying to try his Fresh Mango Fresquito or impossibly exotic-sounding Basil Daiquiri, but in the mean time, he mixed up a signature cocktail just for us to try at home. The EcoStiletto 1/2 cup icern1 cup fresh organic strawberriesrn1 ounce organic vodkarn1 tablespoon organic agave nectarrnSplash of fresh-squeezed organic orange juice Blend ice, strawberries, vodka and agave nectar on medium speed. Strain into a martini glass and add a splash of orange juice. Relax and enjoy. Cheers! Rachel Lincoln Sarnoff is the founder and editor of EcoStiletto. You can find more info about Rachel on our Home page. Want a smaller carbon footprint? EcoStiletto.com is giving away a free pair of eco-friendly shoes worth $500 or more every month! Get the lowdown on shrinking your carbon footprint from an Ugg boot to a Manolo with daily green fashion, beauty, lifestyle, parenting, celebrity and eco-events nationwide and change the world, one small step at a time. Stiletto-size me!