Holiday cocktail time! I got my inspiration for this Gin Ginger Beet Cocktail with Thyme from a recent trip to LA that I took this fall. We had dinner in Santa Monica at Fig and the first thing I saw in their open kitchen was the balloon bread. I said “I want that”. They put basically their pizza dough in the wood-fire oven and it puffs up into a circle like a balloon and then you rip it apart and dip in in delicious hummus. The second thing I saw was their “Give me a Beet” cocktail made with gin, muddled beets, lemon, blackberry liquor and thyme. I said “I want that, too”. The gin really game though and it wasn’t too sweet….or too beetish. The color was amazing and so I wanted to make my own version for this month’s Recipe Redux theme: Naturally Colored Holiday Treats and Trimmings.
One thing I can’t stand is cocktails with added color or full of sweet syrup or sugar. Fist of all, these give me the worst hangover. Second – gross! Beets make incredible hot pink colored cocktails and if you use just a little, provide an earthy base that pairs well with flavors like ginger, lemon, and berries. Beets are incredibly versatile for cocktail making. And they’re a wonderful fall and winter root veggie that you can pop into the oven and use in so many different recipes.
If you like the idea of this Gin Ginger Beet Cocktail with Thyme, try some of my other healthier holiday cocktails including the Hazelnut Coffee Champagne Cocktail, Orange Cram-Pom Sparkling Punch, or even my Healthier Margarita. Enjoy!
- 1 cooked red beet peeled and stemmed
- 1 medium apple cored and roughly chopped
- 1-inch piece fresh ginger, grated
- 8 ounces gin
- 2 teaspoons honey
- 16 ounces soda water
- ice cubes
- 8 thyme sprigs for garnish
- Combine beet, apple, and ginger with about 1 cup of water in a blender and pulse until blended and smooth. Scoop 2 ounces of beet/apple puree into the bottom of four small cocktail glasses and combine with 1/2 teaspoon honey in each glass. Fill glasses to the top with ice cubes then add 2 ounces of gin and top with 4 ounces of soda water each. Stir well and serve with 2 sprigs of thyme in each glass.
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