Aisling Gammill of Water Bear Bar in Boise ID sent over tons of strategy for various sustainability improvements. Below are Gammill's tips. When to Use Acetic (Vinegar), Malic, and Other Acids Vinegar makes the best acid replacement. It is used usually in smaller amounts ex. .75 lemon is standard per cocktail, vinegar is more like .25 to .5 depending on the type of vinegar. I find that vinegar can make a wonderfully delicious sour, Daiquiri, Collins, or champagne topped something. It is a matter of balancing the acid, and not treating it necessarily like citrus when building. It is also... Read more →

These recipes come from Tamir Ben-Shalmon of Bull Valley Roadhouse in Port Costa, CA. The jam is flexible and a great way to save what you would think is waste. There was so much left over. The cranberry jam we make is a bit savory, and other hearty and earthy herbs work well. Rosemary is a great example. First year I did both and I think I added orange zest this year. The cranberry jam is also supposed to be a bit savory for Bull Valley so that we can control the sweetness for the cocktails. Cranberry Shrub: 450g fresh... Read more →

Patrick Braga of Paper Plane in San Jose wrote in with some recipes that use alternative acids in place of citrus in cocktails. He writes, "In the past I've played with citrus stock, and I'm not the greatest fan of the end products. I've also used spent citrus to make acid rectified hydrosols, and it turned out great, but without a large still would be nearly impossible to execute at volume for the bar." "So far on Paper Plane's menus I've created two drinks that are refreshing without the use of citrus, The Grape Pretender and the Here Comes The... 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 →

To reduce citrus waste at the bar, some bartenders are making cocktails using alternative acids including vinegar. Below are recipes. Note that many may need to be adjusted to the needs or your own bar rather than used directly. IT’S ABOUT TIME Created by Justin Lavenue & Matt Ross Lavenue is the Owner / Operator of The Roosevelt Room & The Eleanor (Austin, TX) Toki translates to “Time” in Japanese. Note this recipe used both red wine vinegar and acid phosphate for acidity. 1.5 oz Toasted Coconut infused-Suntory Toki Japanese Blended Whisky Scant .5 oz Bai Mudan White Tea syrup... Read more →