Feed Body + Soul’s Garrett Mckechnie and Marcos Tello and their unique organic cocktail program.

Leave it to Venice to have a bar/restaurant with an organic cocktail program. But not only are the drinks organic but they don’t have any refined sugars. Those healthnutty Venice Beachians! It’s true, new restaurant Feed Body + Soul won the liquor license lottery so had to find a way to create a liquor program that jibed with their whole organic concept. Enter mixologists Marcos Tello and Garrett Mckechnie, formerly of 1886 Bar in Pasadena. They were tasked with stocking the bar shelves with all-organic, refined sugar-free inventory. A monumental undertaking considering it’s not just spirits they had to find but every bar staple from liqueurs to syrups to garnishes! And this has never been done before. Organic cocktails, yes. Without refined sugars? No.

All in all the entire process took nine months of research. And in the end for the products they couldn’t find green equivalents for, they had made or made themselves. Louis Anderman of Miracle Miles Bitters created organic versions of Angostura, Peychauds and orange bitters, while Marcos had to make his own maraschino cherries by sourcing organic Marasca cherries from Oregon, rehydrating them and soaking them in Clear Creek cherry liqueur. I cover the process in more depth on my LA Magazine Digest blog post here.

Since the ingredients don’t have refined sugar that meant for the classic cocktail program every drink recipe had to be reworked. After all, no refined sugar means the ingredient is not as sweet so more of it will have to be used. Fortunately, even though the cocktails, including something like the Negroni, are all various hues of that “refined sugar-free brown” they’re still mighty tasty. Here’s a look at what’s currently on the seasonal menu. There are five seasonal cocktails and five classics which range in price from $10 to $12.

Feed Body + Soul’s Organic Cocktails

Bee’s Knees: organic lemon juice, honey, and Comb 9 Gin, a botanical-rich gin made from honey

Persimmon caipirinha: Cuca Fresca Cachaça, organic fuyu persimmon, organic limes

Celery Root Collins: 123 Tequila Blanco, Imbue Vermouth, organic agave nectar, organic celery root juice, Q Tonic

Meyer Lemon Gimlet: Crop Gin, organic Meyer lemon infused coco nectar, organic Meyer lemon juice

Spiced Pear Toddy: Teriquet 3-year Armagnac, Peak Spirits Pear Eau de Vie, housemade organic pear cider

Feed Body + Soul
1239 Abbot Kinney Boulevard
Venice, California 90291 (map)
(310) 450-5550
Hours: Daily 7am-11pm
Twitter: @feedbodysoul