A Carrot Cocktail

I intended to make a simple drink with some berries or other sweet, tart fruit in it. But there was no fruit to be found in the fridge. Just carrots. Oh, and green onions. Why not?

The first thing I discovered is that muddling carrots isn't easy, nor do you get out a great deal of flavor from a small amount of carrot. So, lots of thin strips, such as what a peeler produces, are the way to go. Hendrick's gin seemed a reasonable base spirit, with it's hints of cucumber, so a spin on a Martini seemed like the way to go. I thought it might lack depth of flavor, so throw in some Cynar, balanced out with a bit of Agave syrup. I shook up a couple drinks like this, but I had erred in the proportions - way too bitter, and the carrot was lost.

I made a second attempt, dialing up the vermouth and dialing down the Cynar. This worked better. Though the cocktail wasn't earth-shattering, it was carroty, different, and eminently drinkable. Perhaps it could be improved, but it ain't awful as-is:

The Carrot Cocktail

• One small-to-medium sized carrot
• 2 inch cutting of the hollow green end of a green onion
• 1/4 tsp dark Agave syrup
• 1.75 oz French vermouth
• 1.5 oz gin
• 0.25 oz Cynar

Using a vegetable peeler, completely shred the carrot into a shaker. Tear up onion into shaker. Add the other ingredients, and muddle the fuck out of the veggies. Seriously - muddle as hard as you can. Shake vigorously, double strain through a very fine strainer into a cocktail glass, and garnish with a strip of carrot.

 I'm not the only one that's thought about carrot cocktails - Camper English has written about them several times, though I haven't tried those recipes.