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Cocktails go organic

Megan Brooks

At a school with half-hourly waits for machines at the Recreational Sports Center (RSC), detailed pie graphs highlighting the carbohydrates found in a turkey wrap, and calorie-burning tea sold at the markets, it's hard to dispute that Miami University is a health-conscious campus.

That is, until you have seen the late-night pizza and beer consumption uptown.

Miami students work hard and play hard, but can they get health benefits from not only breaking a sweat on the elliptical but from sipping on a cosmopolitan too?

The trendsetting cities of New York, Los Angeles and Chicago think so.

The new fad is organic cocktails-which provide a healthy alternative to the usual sugary cocktails-and if they show up in Oxford they will give students the chance to switch their sugar-filled cocktails stuffed with impurities for ones made using organic juices.

Why organic?

These new concoctions allow drinkers to reap the benefits while still enjoying the taste of a sweet cocktail at the end of a hard day.

"The point of a drink is the taste, it's not about the sugar," said Josh Seidel, general manager at Kona Bistro. "You look at any diet-South Beach or Atkins-they're all about eliminating the simple carbs, which is what an organic cocktails does."

A regular cosmopolitan, popularized by Carrie Bradshaw from the series Sex and the City, has around 164 calories, with 9.3 grams of carbohydrates and 2.7 grams of sugar, according to www.calorie-count.com. Certain health-savvy restaurants are trying to eliminate the latter two numbers and decrease the former, while keeping taste and adding nutrients.

But is having an organic cocktail like having a super size McDonald's meal with a diet coke?

Not quite, because there may be true benefits to organic drinks.

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A bar in New York called Pure Food and Wine uses only freshly squeezed juice that has no sugar or preservatives, only a little sweetener to enhance the taste.

Other bars are now serving real vegetables in their mix drinks. Need an excuse for that Bloody Mary? Just claim it's how you're getting your daily serving of vegetables.

And it's not just the mixes that are getting a makeover.

From no-carb liquor to crystal pure vodka-which contains no added sugars-alcohol itself is slimming down. One brand of vodka that is representing this shift toward organically grown alcohol is Square One, which, according to its Web site, is made with spring water from the Teton Mountains and organically grown rye from North Dakota. Even the packaging is organic-made with bamboo rather than paper.

And the good news is that the trend isn't limited to just the basic cocktails.

Take the red wine and poached pear organic cocktail at Counter Bar in the East Village of the Big Apple. According to a July 15 article by the New York Times, the concoction is at least as delicious as the average drink and even more rewarding because of the health benefits from the organic juices, which have no preservatives, added sugar or artificial color.

Coming down to cost

So maybe Miami students aren't a bunch of Carrie Bradshaws and, sure, the big Ox isn't quite the Big Apple. Yet this town does offer an array of bars-even a few like Kona Bistro, Tonic and A-List-which strive to provide an alternative to the typical college scene. However, these supposed more sophisticated options might come at a price higher than the usual Natural Light.

"Organic cocktails are going to be more expensive than regular ones," said Chris Hensey, manager and bartender at A-List and owner of Main Street Gourmet. "Perhaps double the cost for the organic juices and the ingredients."

Seidel, from Kona, doesn't see the organic trend entering Oxford anytime soon.

"In a college town, students will drink whatever has alcohol in it," Siedel said. "There's little economic incentive to provide something like this (organic)."

And others have their doubts.

Suzanne Hopper at The Nutrition Council in Cincinnati hasn't been following the trend, but has some hesitations.

"I can see there would be some advantages but I'm not sure about promoting that as a way to get your fruits and vegetables, although we are always looking for people to get more," Hopper said.

According to a Medill report published May 2, there is an environmental incentive to going organic, especially as organic wines, which use less energy to harvest the grapes and therefore diminish the amount of ground water pollution that typically comes from wine production and the usual chemicals.

Juicy Wine Company in Chicago is one place that is removing chemicals to make wine healthier and better for the environment-but still at a cost.

"When selling organic wine you can't use the same things to suppress molds, so you'd have to find substitute ways to keep it fresh, which would add cost," Hensey said.

In addition, there are many organic wineries with increasingly good quality.

"The number of organic wineries is increasing as the demand is, as more competition comes about the quality of the wine will continue to increase," Hensey said.

Despite the quality, Hopper is also hesitant to promote organic products based on health benefits.

"They are more expensive and except for a few key products in the produce area there is not a whole lot of evidence that organically produced produce is not always good from an health standpoint, we promote more fruits in general, not just organic," Hopper said.

Sophomore Matt Huber, a frequent RSC visitor and self-confessed protein powder junkie, feels that things like organic beer may not flourish on campus because of the cost.

"If it tastes the same as Natty, but is five to 10 bucks more a case, I'm going to go for the Natty," Huber said.

Hensey, however, is more optimistic about the organic alcohol trend winding up in Oxford.

"These things are demand driven," Hensey said. "Bars will respond to the demand. In theory, a trend like this could happen at a place as image conscious as Miami, but students will have to fuel the supply."

Health and hangover help

Despite the higher costs that accompany these healthier drinks, there are many benefits that would appeal to students-including an easier morning after a hard night out.

"To a degree having organic juices in cocktails should diminish next day regret, but for the most part hangovers are determined by the quality of liquor," Hensey said.

The lack of sugar in organic cocktails could sway those morning blues and may even have drinkers skipping the long line at the RSC guilt-free, since going organic keeps impurities out of the body unlike sugary cocktails.

"People don't understand that the cause of obesity comes from what they're drinking," Seidel said. "Soda drinks have as much sugar as candy bars. People need to realize how much their drinks are impacting their health."

Everyone knows that organic drinks are more nutritious than regular drinks, but just how nutritious are those regular drinks? Well soon, it could be easy to find out.

According to the U.S. Treasury Department, all beverages containing alcohol including wine, beer and hard liquor may soon have to contain a label with nutritional information. This proposal, which is being published for public comment, is intended to help people become more health conscious choices regarding alcohol by detailing exactly what is-and isn't-in each bottle.

"I think a lot of people would really like to see the nutritional facts on alcohol bottles," said Cory DeKing, a Miami sophomore. "Alcohol is always going to be a sort of indulgence but at least if they had the nutritional facts we could make the healthiest choice to indulge in."

Can calories trump cost?

Miami is a school that supports good health and fitness, while it's uptown that allows for plenty of alcohol consumption-which can be expensive, without addin g extra charges that would come along with organically made cocktails and beer.

So which is the Miami trump card: money or health?

"Money will prevail, I'll just run a few extra miles," Huber said

For junior Alex Stetsura it's the opposite.

"I would try organic alcohol, I work out and try to watch what I eat," Stetsura said. "I think it would depend more on the taste than the cost."

It seems the organic alcohol trend is waiting on the students, and the trump card varies with each hand.

"The fact is that alcohol will always be empty calories," Seidel said.

A cocktail may never be as good as a five-mile run on the treadmill, no matter how healthy the alcoholic concoctions become, and even organic alcohol doesn't provide an excuse to drink like it is Green Beer Day all year long.


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