Quiz: How Green is Your Happy Hour?

Organic vodkas are not hard to find. These are just a few examples of the numerous brands of organic vodka on the market today. Purus is made from organic Italian wheat. Purus will also plant a tree for anyone who registers on their site. Crop is distilled from some unusual, well, crops, like tomato and cucumber. Prairie is not just organic, it's also kosher.

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Try Prairie Organic Vodka In Your Next Screwdriver
TRU Organic Vodka Plants a Tree For Every Bottle Purchased

One of my guilty pleasures is occasionally indulging in a margarita. Margaritas are delicious. But they can also be filled with sugary chemicals that no one should want in her body. Margaritas that use all natural ingredients like fresh lime juice, organic acai, agave nectar, organic egg whites, and organic tequila, are much better for you and the environment. For some ideas on how to keep your margarita truly green, check out Elizabeth Seward's recipe for an organic margarita.

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Make a Pumpkin Spice Margarita
Emeril's Cilantro Mint Margarita

If you're up for a bit of a kitchen adventure, or you just can't find what you want in the stores, make your own booze. The key to making gin is juniper berries and you can play around with the other ingredients until you have a recipe that appeals to you. Add the juniper berries to a bottle of vodka and let it sit overnight.

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Emeril's Virgin Margaritas with Lime Salt
Toast to Earth Day with an Organic Cocktail

Some producers may not be organic, but are still making ecologically sound efforts in their business practices like Maker's Mark which has just installed a new waste treatment system which allows them to recycle their waste stream and creates renewable energy.

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Make these Summer Cocktails
Cheers! How to Serve Up Elegant Green Cocktails

What makes biodynamic farming different from simple organic farming is the use of fermented herbal and mineral preparations as compost additives and field sprays. Biodynamic vineyards employ organic farming methods that treat farms as unified organisms. They also emphasize the relationship between the soil, plants, and animals as a closed, self-nourishing system. Biodynamic vineyards also use manures and composts rather than artificial chemicals on soil and plants. The method also coordinates the astronomical calendar with the planting calendar. Biodynamic farming emphasizes quality over mass production and when it comes to wine this means a dependably delicious product.

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What is Demeter USA or Biodynamic?
Green Wine: Getting Techie

Support your local breweries to help cut the excessive emissions involved in importing beer. You might even consider bringing a growler to your local brewery to fill it up with fresh draught beer on site. This is an easy way to cut out bottle waste and recycling hassles.

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How to Go Green: Beers
Drink Beer from the Draught Instead of the Bottle

It doesn't take two months to brew your own beer but all the others tips are true. Finding a local brewery that you like can be a challenge. If you can’t find a good brew in your area, try making your own. According to Aaron Schenk, the 2008 Highland Cup Homebrew Competition Winner (featured in this month's issue of New Age Journal) it's really not as difficult as you might think. Of course your first batch isn't going to taste like a Trappist ale, but as you learn the practice the beer will surely get better and better.

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A Brewskee for Youskee? Start Brewing Your Own Beer Now

While you want your wine to be free of added sulfites, some sulfites do occur naturally in wine. Sulfites are a natural by-product of the fermentation process. In addition to the naturally occurring sulfites, non-naturally occurring sulfites are sometimes added to prevent bacterial spoilage. But adding those additional sulfites can give the drinker a bit of a headache the next day.

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Uncork Some Green Wine
How to Go Green: Wine

Benromach Scotch whisky uses spring water, organic Scottish barley, and organic yeast but not organic wheat for a greener product. Interestingly enough, it uses oak casks made of wood from environmentally managed forests in the United States.

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Green Cocktails: By the Numbers
Top Green Cocktails Tips

Learn what you'll need and how to make your own cider on Planet Green. The ingredients in a good cider recipe are as individual as the person making it, but you'll definitely need yeast. Although any kind will work, try using affordable dry organic wine yeast as opposed to specialized cider yeast.

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The Clean, Yet Dirty, Martini
World's First 100 % USDA Certified Organic Bar Celebrates Opening Night