In “Clean + Dirty Drinking,” award-winning mixologist Gaby Mlynarczyk guides imbibers through 24 vibrant cocktails, with “Clean” (hold the alcohol) and “Dirty” (bring on the booze) recipes for each. “The book gives you templates to create drinks with seasonal, fresh ingredients and the option to add as little or as much alcohol as you wish,” the UK-born, LA-based bar whiz and Loving Cup blogger tells Alexa. Mlynarczyk takes a culinary approach to her concoctions, incorporating ingredients like guava consommé and golden beet, as well as fanciful garnishes — coconut-spiced foam and edible silver glitter. In this excerpt, she stirs up clean and dirty twists on two eye-catching libations. To your health!
Guava + chai green tea + blue majik + rum
Most nights that I tend bar, I get the inevitable request (or a half dozen) for “a fruity drink” — and no, not just from so-called girly girls (who, by the way, order more whiskey drinks at my bar than the guys do). And often these orders come shyly and under the seeker’s breath; the fruity drink is kind of the drink of shame. While these libations are sweet and go down easily, they are a category of cocktail that struggles with being taken seriously. The following represents my efforts to end that.
This fruity mix is made in the style of a tiki drink, which, perhaps, is more whimsical than solemn in its resurgence — but definitely serious about its cocktails. Maybe weirdly, I associate tiki with winter, not summer — likely because I’ve spent enough winter vacations escaping the cold in warmer climates, lapping up many a banana daiquiri and mai tai by the pool (usually with an imaginary pool boy fanning me with palm fronds). Also, many classic tiki drinks are spicy, accented by cinnamon, allspice, and nutmeg — we Brits don’t usually see these flavors until sometime in early December, when the indomitable Christmas pudd’ arrives, so you can understand my train of thought. This drink started life as a deconstructed piña colada, using pineapple and rum on the bottom and a squirt of whipped coconut-cream foam on top. Then I fell in love with guava, and dumped the poor piña portion of the drink. Guava is a powerhouse superfruit, great for skin health, packed full of vitamin C and lycopene (a potent anti-oxidant), and a proven flu remedy — perfect for boosting your immunity in the colder winter months. A touch of Blue Majik spirulina adds B vitamins and another bunch of minerals to boot. I like to call this beauty the Tiki-Tini. For a festive finish, trick out the coconut foam with a dusting of edible glitter, and you’ll be thrilled to have this drink in your holiday arsenal.
Clean
- 3 Tbsp [45 ml] Guava Consommé
- 3 Tbsp [45 ml] chai green tea, chilled
- 2 Tbsp [30 ml] fresh lime juice
- 1½ Tbsp [22 ml] Coconut Butter–Washed Syrup
- 2 drops alcohol-free pure vanilla extract
- 1 drop alcohol-free gentian root tincture
- 1 capsule, or about ¼ tsp, Blue Majik spirulina plus a pinch for garnish
- Ice cubes for shaking and serving
- Coconut-Spiced Foam for garnish
- Edible silver glitter for garnish
- 1 kaffir lime leaf for garnish
In a cocktail shaker, combine the consommé, tea, lime juice, syrup, vanilla, gentian root tincture, and spirulina.
Add 5 ice cubes, cover the shaker, and shake hard for about 3 seconds.
Fill a Collins glass with ice. Using a Hawthorne strainer, strain the drink into the glass. Top with a shot of coconut foam. Garnish with a pinch of Blue Majik, edible silver glitter, and a kaffir lime leaf placed jauntily on top.
Dirty
- 3 Tbsp [45 ml] Guava Consommé
- 3 Tbsp [45 ml] chai green tea-infused rum, chilled
- 2 Tbsp [30 ml] fresh lime juice
- 1½ Tbsp [22 ml] Coconut Butter–Washed Syrup
- 2 drops pure vanilla extract
- 1 drop gentian root tincture
- 1 capsule, or about ¼ tsp, Blue Majik spirulina plus a pinch for garnish
- Ice cubes for shaking and serving
- Coconut-Spiced Foam for garnish
- Edible silver glitter for garnish
- 1 kaffir lime leaf for garnish
In a cocktail shaker, combine the consommé, rum, lime juice, syrup, vanilla, gentian root tincture, and spirulina.
Add 5 ice cubes, cover the shaker, and shake hard for about 3 seconds.
Fill a Collins glass with ice. Using a Hawthorne strainer, strain the drink into the glass. Top with a shot of coconut foam. Garnish with a pinch of Blue Majik, edible silver glitter, and a kaffir lime leaf placed jauntily on top.
Golden beet + shiso + saison beer
Please don’t judge me, but my very first foray into libatious activity was the simple shandy. I was about nine years old. In general, a typical shandy is half beer and half soft drink, such as lemonade or Sprite or 7UP. In the UK, however, there is a canned version of shandy called Shandy Bass. It is, indeed, made with “real beer,” but the proportion of beer to benign fizz is much less than usual — 0.5 percent alcohol, to be exact. So when we were kids, our parents thought nothing of giving us a glassful to keep us quiet while they all got sloshed. In fact, Shandy Bass is still popular with grown-ups for a public daytime tipple.
As the shandy and I have gotten older, the proportion of beer seems to gradually increase every year — sort of a ritual of passage; it is my favorite refreshment on a Sunday afternoon after working the brutal brunch shift. These days, lovely shandy variations abound at creative bars, and I was inspired, too, to create this version far from my childhood days, shaped by the earthy flavors of golden beets and shiso leaves. In the delicious “Clean” version, homemade kombucha inflected with ginger and honey is a drier and tarter substitute for the beer; the apple juice adds a subtle fruitiness.
Clean
- ¼ cup [60 ml] fresh-pressed apple juice
- 2 Tbsp [30 ml] Beet + Shiso Shrub, made with golden beets
- 2 Tbsp [30 ml] Ginger Simple Syrup
- 1 Tbsp [15 ml] fresh lemon juice
- 2 or 3 drops alcohol-free gentian root tincture
- Ice cubes for shaking and serving
- 2 Tbsp to ¼ cup [30 to 60 ml] Ginger + Manuka Kombucha
- 1 or 2 thin carrot slices for garnish
- Edible disco dust for garnish (optional; available from cake decorating supply stores and online)
In a cocktail shaker, combine the apple juice, shrub, syrup, lemon juice, and gentian root tincture. Add 5 ice cubes, cover the shaker, and shake hard for 3 seconds.
Fill a highball glass with ice.
Using a Hawthorne strainer, strain the drink into the glass. Top with the kombucha and garnish with the carrot slices. Sprinkle the carrots with disco dust, if you like.
Dirty
- ¼ cup [60 ml] fresh-pressed apple juice
- 2 Tbsp [30 ml] Beet + Shiso Shrub, made with golden beets
- 2 Tbsp [30 ml] Ginger Simple Syrup
- 1 Tbsp [15 ml] fresh lemon juice
- 2 or 3 drops gentian root tincture
- Ice cubes for shaking
- ¼ cup [60 ml] saison or pilsner
- 1 or 2 thin carrot slices for garnish
- Edible disco dust for garnish (optional; available from cake decorating supply stores and online)
In a cocktail shaker, combine the apple juice, shrub, syrup, lemon juice, and gentian root tincture. Add 5 ice cubes, cover the shaker, and shake hard for 3 seconds.
Fill a highball glass with ice.
Using a Hawthorne strainer, strain the drink into the glass. Top with the beer and garnish with the carrot slices.
Sprinkle the carrots with disco dust, if you like.
Find these complete cocktail recipes in the book “Clean + Dirty Drinking: 100+ Recipes for Making Delicious Elixirs, With or Without Booze,” $20 at Chronicle Books.