Damien mixes: Beetroot

© Damien Guichard

Another month, another community cocktail! And this time you have given me the burden of an ingredient that I have always been extremely reluctant to use: beetroot. 

I have somehow always found it difficult to make drinks with fresh beetroot. Besides the colour, I find the earthiness generally off-putting and it usually makes the type of drink that guests qualify as interesting: they get the idea but wouldn’t have another one. 

My goal is and will always be to make drinks for guests: as crowd-pleasing as possible. The challenge should be on the bartender to make difficult ingredients approachable and palatable and not on the guest to forcefully enjoy a bad drink. With that premise in mind, I decided to stop rolling my eyes and apply myself like a good boy. 

Beetroots have one thing going for them, they have a high sugar content, which means that baking them will intensify their sweetness and reduce their earthiness. This shall therefore be our starting point. 

© Damien Guichard

Now let’s get to work!

First of all, let’s slice up our fresh beetroot with the skin still on. We will then weigh them out and bake them. At 190C for 20min to be precise until their bright red glow takes a purple hue and they start drying out. Once that step is complete, infuse them for 24 hours sous-vide or in a container as airtight as possible if you do not own a vacuum machine. The ratio should be 50% of the fresh beetroot to vodka, in my case 400g of fresh beetroot and 800g of vodka. After 24 hours, strain your beetroot vodka. 

A classic pairing with beetroot is raspberry, the sweetness and earthiness of the beetroot is a perfect match to the fruitiness of the raspberry. As you are probably aware by now, I’m always partial to a highball so I present you… 

Recipe for a “Gift Horse"