Ketel One’s Garnished with Good is an initiative that encourages all bartenders to go beyond making a cocktail that tastes delicious and to create something that can help bring about social change to deliver a positive impact.

Each year, the finalists from the World Class Bartender of the Year participate in this initiative, offering their own unique take on how to make a difference. This year it’s Renato Tonelli’s turn as the 2023 World Class US Bartender of the Year.

For my community project, I teamed up with Rethink Food, a local organization that is taking massive action in our food industry by bridging the gap between excess food and the communities that need it. They are alleviating food insecurity by partnering with farms, grocery stores, bars, and restaurants and creating 40,000+ nutritious meals a week for people in need.

By partnering up with Ketel One, this mission has been actioned in my community in New York City. It will continue throughout five other major cities in the US.

My Imperfect Appletini cocktail takes leftover apples that Rethink Food rescues. The apples are pressed into a clarified juice that is sold to restaurants and bars at a very low price to make the cocktail and spark conversations about the initiative. This cocktail can be easily recreated if a bar has honey, salt, dry white wine (even leftover), and Ketel One Family-made Vodka. 

Purchasing this ingredient from Rethink Food helps the organization continue to do what it does best by upcycling food and feeding people who suffer from food insecurity. Even the leftover pomace that is used after juicing is turned into fruit leathers, apple sauce, and as a nutrient densifier to help bulk up other foods to feed people in need.

The process is 100% cyclical and will go live in San Francisco, Chicago, Nashville, Washington D.C, and Miami, but our mission starts here, in my city of New York City, the Big Apple.

For more information and detailed recipes, head over to Difford’s Guide.