Heart-beet

Beets. Earthy, rich, lightly sweet, and a gorgeous deep red. In our humble opinion, these tasty root vegetables are more than just a side dish. They're full of potassium, manganese, and pair spectacularly with gin. What more could you want from a cocktail ingredient? 

A few things you need to know about dealing with beets, if you haven't had the pleasure already. Well, actually, just one. They will turn everything pink. Wear gloves if you want to keep your hands human colored, and an apron if you value your clothing. 

Give them a good scrub with a vegetable brush, then peel and chop into one inch pieces. We added frozen raspberries to ours, but you can use blueberries or strawberries as well. The berries add just the right amount of sweet to keep the beets from being an overpowering flavor. 

Beet-Raspberry Puree

2 Cups peeled and chopped beets

2 Cups raspberries, fresh or frozen

1/4-1/2 Cup water

Combine in a food processor and blend until smooth. 

Heartbeet

1.5 oz 50 Fathoms Gin

.5 oz Lemon Juice

.5 oz Honey Syrup

1 Tbsp Beet-Raspberry Puree

Shake ingredients with ice and strain into a chilled coupe glass. Garnish with a lemon twist.

Forest Gimlet

The holidays are over, and most of us are finally coming out of some fabulous food and drink comas. Looking at you, egg nog. 

January is a time for fresh starts and newly made resolutions. For Alaskans, this also means crazy cold spells and winter days that get longer and longer, creeping ever so slowly towards spring.

The Forest Gimlet was inspired by just such days. The kind of day that is breathtakingly gorgeous, refreshing, and icy cold. Rosemary infused vodka adds a hint of warmth to this twist on a classic cocktail.

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Making an infused vodka is quite simple. All you'll need is a great vodka, like our Icy Strait Vodka, a large jar, and whatever you want to put in it.  

Rosemary is a ridiculously versatile herb with a flavor that can be a subtle hint at the finish of a drink, or a fresh slap to the face at the start, similar to the north wind we've had lately. It goes well with citrus, and makes a great twist on classic vodka cocktails. 

Rosemary Infused Vodka

750 mL Icy Strait Vodka

2-3 full sprigs fresh rosemary (I used pieces about 6" long)

Combine vodka and rosemary in a large jar, and leave somewhere dark for 2 or 3 days. Check it after the second day, if you want the flavor to be stronger, leave it to infuse for another day.

Forest Gimlet

1.5 oz Rosemary Infused Icy Strait Vodka

.75 oz Lemon Juice

.25 oz Simple Syrup

Shake with ice and strain into a chilled rocks glass. Garnish with a sprig of fresh rosemary.

Port Chilkoot Yule Nog

Festive drinks are an important part of a great holiday party, and nothing is more iconic than a glass of egg nog. Our nog recipe is boozy, simple, and ridiculously tasty.

What you'll need:

Blender

Boatwright Bourbon

3 eggs

1/2 cup sugar

1 cup whole milk

1/2 cup heavy cream

Nutmeg

Blend sugar, eggs, milk, and cream until fluffy, then add whiskey to taste and blend again. We recommend about 1 1/2 cups for this recipe. Pour into the drinking vessels of your choice and spoon a little of the fluff from the top of the blended mixture into each glass. Sprinkle with nutmeg and enjoy!

Spruce Gin Old Fashioned

In a mixing tin, stir together

• 2 spruce tips

• Lemon wedge

• Grapefruit bitters

Add

• 2 oz. 50 Fathoms Gin

• ¾ oz. spruce tip-infused simple syrup

• Ice

Stir and strain over ice-filled rocks glass. 

Garnish with a spruce tip.

Moscow Moose

2 oz. Icy Strait Vodka

1 oz.  ginger beer or ginger ale

1 lemon wedge

1 lime wedge

Splash of soda water

Stir ingredients together and strain in to a tin camping mug filled with crushed ice. Garnish with lime wheel and sprig of mint.