We are always told to eat more vegetables…but what about drinking them? Bloody Marys, Gibsons, and cucumber martinis are all classic vegetable-based cocktails, however, it is also possible to produce delicious spirits directly from the vegetables themselves. Let’s take a look at some of the top offerings in this exciting corner of the drinks market.
Potatoes
The humble potato. Baked, boiled, fried……or even distilled. Going against the grain in the spirit world can open up some interesting options. Potato vodka is a great example, with around 3% of the world's vodka being produced from them. Giving a bolder but smooth taste, they are popular with discerning drinkers around the world. To ferment, then distill potatoes into vodka is a harder process than grain-based spirits, however. Not least as they must be peeled before starting the process.
Top brands include British distillery Chase, whose founder, William Chase, branched out into distilling having first founded upmarket potato crisp brand Tyrells. Looking for other potato-based possibilities led him to become an award-winning producer of potato vodka, including flavours such as Marmalade and even Smoked. Chase also produces gin, using their own potato vodka as the base.
Houston-based ASSC produces RWB using Idaho potatoes and a five-stage filtration process, resulting in an ultra-premium vodka, which has a smooth, earthy finish.
For double vegetable delight, Portobello Road distillery launched the world's first British Asparagus vodka in 2022, taking its potato vodka and infusing it with asparagus, capturing the essence of the flavour and opening up some interesting new cocktail possibilities.
For those with a sweet tooth, California's Corbin Cash makes not only a unique Sweet Potato Vodka but also a Sweet Potato liqueur, from sweet potatoes grown on its own 100-year-old farm.
Carrots
Boardroom Spirits, a Pennsylvania distillery, make C:Carrot Spirit which, as the name suggests, is distilled from carrots. An eau de vie, around 5.8kg (13lbs) goes into each 375ml bottle, which captures the taste of fresh carrot, with notes of sweet fennel.
Austrian producer Hans Reisetbauer also produces a carrot eau de vie using 100% biodynamic organic carrots grown just 50km from its distillery. More than 35kg (77 lbs) go into each litre. The spirit is distilled twice through a copper still, then rested for three years, producing a dry yet sweet drink with earthy carrot notes.
Other vegetable spirits
Boardroom Spirits also produce B:Beet Spirit from beetroot. This eau de vie uses around 3.6kg (8 lbs) of red beetroot to make each 375ml bottle of the earthy, peppery spirit.
Vienna-based distillery Invivio Spirits make the innovative Bell Pepper Brandy, which takes 100kg of paprika, a spice made from peppers, to produce just 3L of brandy.
Following an overproduction of cucumbers during a 2018 heatwave, Invivio found a unique way to avoid food waste by producing its Cucumber Geist, a fresh-tasting drink capturing notes of its origin vegetable.
For drinkers looking for a little heat, Mexican distillery Ancho Reyes makes unique spirits from chilies native to the State of Puebla. Chose from Original, using sun-dried red chilies, or Verde, made with fire-roasted green chilies. Both would bring interesting twists to old classics such as Margaritas and Bloody Marys, or sip them straight for a unique short drink.
Whatever you go for, enjoy the new mixology possibilities these special spirits bring to the bar, from fresh takes on old favourites to brand-new frontiers in the ever-popular cocktail world.
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