Here are some recent stories shared to the CocktailGreen Facebook Page, and now grouped together here: The Science Behind Vegan Meringues This story includes some science and testing of aquafaba in place of egg whites. It's specifically using canned aquafaba and looking at merengues rather than cocktails, but there is some good information about adding acids vs alkaline ingredients to attempt to stabilize the foam. He also makes some flavoring suggestions to make the foam less beany-tasting. One of those ingredients is rosewater, which reminds me of some bartenders who would scent eggs with essential oils. I wonder how a... Read more →

Here are some stories on sustainability in the booze world you might want to read: Why Packaging Is Wine’s New Sustainability Frontier, Liquor.com How producers are choosing locally-made glass, lighter bottles and aluminum cans, and less-wasteful packaging. Bartenders Guide to Foraging Nettles, DiffordsGuide.com And how to make nettle cordial. Why Spirits and Wine Producers Are Turning to Regenerative Farming, Liquor.com "A new laser-focus on the rhizosphere—the soil and its microorganisms—by farmers and winemakers is analogous to the surge of interest in the human microbiome among nutrition and health advocates, with the producers linking soil health to the overall wellbeing of... Read more →

An article in PlasticsToday is called "Bacardi’s Foray into Sustainable Packaging Has Some Challenges." It talks about compostable plastics that the company has announced they'll be switching to within a few years. While probably not the exact type of compostable plastic that compostable take-out food containers are made of, they're related, or rather they could have related problems. Recyclable plastic can go into recycling bins. Compostable plastic can be composted in gardens, or put into industrial/curbside compost bins only in some cities. I checked with my city, San Francisco, and their website says that "Products clearly labeled “Compostable”" can go... Read more →

I recently came across this story in Packaging Digest, which is called "Are Paper Bottles Sustainable and Practical?" It features an interview with Lux Research Associate Drishti Masand. It addresses several of the issues I've been thinking about with paper bottles, as a few brands have announced they'll be moving some of their packaging to paper bottles. We'll start with his conclusion: Many companies are adopting solutions that solve the issue of plastics waste; however, they create a new set of sustainability challenges. All the alternative materials solutions have a separate set of problems associated with them; thus, they simply... Read more →

Charlie Parker's is a cocktail bar downstairs from restaurant Fred's in Sydney, Australia. Above both of them is a rooftop garden where they have a 20,000-resident beehive, lots of edible produce, and composting. Our compost bins take care of 90% of all bar waste and our top to tail plastic free approach has seen major success from exclusively using grain straws (or no straws), to all drink prep being stored in food safe mason jars that double as epic sous vide vessels. Our garnishes are made out of the by products from our preps and, our citrus soda is the... Read more →

In this post I cherry pick a few tips out of two books that aren't really intended for the bartender audience. The book Street Smart Sustainability: The Entrepreneur's Guide to Profitably Greening Your Organization's DNA by David Mager and Joe Sibilia is not aimed at bars but more small to mid-sized businesses. I did find a few points useful in it though, so I'll put them together here. These are all directed toward management/ownership. Involving Employees in the Waste Audit. The book covers a lot on conducting a waste audit. It covers the case for all sorts of businesses but... Read more →

To coincide with the "soft opening" of CocktailGreen.org I pulled together some of my favorite tips learned in the first phase of building this website. There are dozens more where these came from! 1. You can infuse spent citrus shells (after squeezing) into alcohol to get a good base start on flavored spirits and syrups such as falernum, citrus vodka, and spiced rum, as they'll do at Good Company in Boston. read more 2. Instead of "burning the ice" from the well at the end of the evening, bars including San Francisco's Trick Dog put it in a stock pot... Read more →

The following missive comes from Nicholas Box of The Acorn restaurant in Vancouver. This post has tons of information in it, so if you followed a link here you might have to scroll a bit to find the particular section where it's mentioned. "I run the bar at The Acorn restaurant in Vancouver - that is up until the great closure of many many businesses. We are a 44-seat vegetarian restaurant focused on local ingredients. Now citrus isn't very local, but at least we can still order in organic. I'm a believer in getting organic when possible, especially if the... Read more →