Real Ginger Cocktail: Start the New Year Without Additives

2014 is just around the corner and I love to celebrate the new year just as much as the next person.  I have a cocktail that you can feel good about drinking (please be responsible).  Make sure you just don’t feel too good…wink wink.

Many bottled cocktails contain artificial colors and flavors.  It is also very likely that if a drink is sweet it will contain high fructose corn syrup because it is a cheap sweetener.  Unfortunately, we never really know all that may be contained in these beverages.  Alcoholic beverages generally do not list ingredients.  Why?  Beer and alcoholic drinks are not regulated by the FDA (food and drug administration).  Alcohol is regulated by the BATF (bureau of alcohol tobacco and firearms).

If you are a fan of new year’s resolutions then a great one to make would be to start eating more cleanly.  Avoiding processed foods and additives as much as you can.  The first step in doing this is to make more things from scratch.  What better place to start then with your new year’s eve cocktail?

This cocktail fits the rules of clean eating because:

-made with real ginger (not artificial flavor) which also has great anti-inflammatory properties

-contains no refined sugars

-contains no artificial colors (the real ginger makes it a beautiful yellow color)

-contains no GMOs if you use organic vodka

This cocktail is inspired by a drink my husband ordered during a recent night out.  It was called a Moscow Mule which is ginger beer, vodka, and lime juice.  It is often served in a copper mug because they say it tastes better that way.  If you have a copper mug feel free to serve this drink in one.  Maybe someone can explain to me why it tastes better in copper.  I think it tastes just as good without the fancy mug.

CHEERS! Be safe and do not drink and drive.

Print

Course Beverage

Prep Time 5 minutes

Total Time 5 minutes

Servings 2

Author Sara

Ingredients

• 2 inch Fresh Ginger Root peeled if not organic
• 1 Tbsp Maple Syrup or Honey
• Juice half lemon about 1 Tbsp
• 1 1/2 cup sparkling water
• 2 oz organic vodka more or less to taste
• 2 lemon wedges optional

Instructions

1. Using your juicer, add the ginger root (if you do not have a juicer you can finely grate the ginger and squeeze the juice with a paper towel or cheesecloth or add the grated ginger into the vodka and let sit for a few days).
2. Once the ginger juice has been completely removed from the root (will only make about 1 tbsp of juice) add 1/4 cup of the sparking water to the juicer to make sure you have gotten all the juice.
3. Add the rest of the ingredients to the ginger juice including the remaining sparkling water.
4. Mix together.
5. Pour into two cocktail glasses.
6. Serve with wedge of lemon if desired.

Recipe Notes

You can also serve this beverage without the vodka and make it non-alcoholic.