Mornington Peninsula bar tender a sustainability hero after winning vodka competition
A $23 cocktail created with kitchen scraps from an exclusive Mornington Peninsula hotel has earned its maker international accolades. But would you drink it?
South East
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A cocktail created with kitchen scraps from an exclusive Mornington Peninsula hotel has earned its maker an international title and an eco-trip to Bali.
Tioni Naslund’s $23 42 Reasons cocktail was the joint winner of the 42 Below Sustainable Cocktail Showcase.
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Mr Naslund shared the honour with South Australian bartender Honni Cox of Hades Hula House, who created a bubble tea served in a cup made from dehydrated watermelon and beeswax.
“I thought I had a chance but I was still surprised to win,” Mr Naslund said.
The Frankston man, who manages the bar at Jackalope’s cocktail lounge Flaggerdoot, came up with his drink after tiring of seeing food wasted.
He used leftover mandarins to make a marmalade for the cocktail base, and infused the 42 Below vodka with unused grapefruit peel.
The drink also has mint, lemon juice and ginger beer, and is served in a tall glass.
Mr Naslund said the result was a “bright, bittersweet and refreshing” drink.
The drink was the most popular on the Flaggerdoot menu but is currently unavilable because mandarins are no longer in season.
“I’ll be bringing it back when the mandarins are in season again (April),” Mr Naslund said.
In the meantime customers can try plenty of other Flaggerdoot creations, with the menu including original creations such as the College Dropout (Amaro Nonino, cognac, blackberry, lemon, apricot, soda) and K.I.S.S (Reposado Tequila, watermelon, lime, jalapeno and basil).
The 42 Below Sustainable Cocktail Showcase was open to cocktail makers from Australia and New Zealand with the drinks judged by a panel of vodka judges followed by a public vote.
More than 4000 people took part in the vote which saw Naslund and Cox tie for the win.
42 Below global brand manager and head judge Kane Stanford said the beverage company was “stoked” to see so many creative approaches to sustainable cocktails.
Mr Naslund said he was looking forward to visiting Bali as part of his prize.
“I’ve never been before. I guess I’ll be seeing a different side of it as the trip is really about learning more about sustainability and sharing what we do with the locals,” Mr Naslund said.
During the trip Mr Naslund will train Bali bartenders in sustainable cocktail programs.
He’ll also go on a Tour-de-Trash with 42 Below’s “trash-tech” partner Gringgo to learn more about saving the ocean from plastic pollutants.
Gringgo is an Indonesia based organisation that was set up to work with local schools to make recycling easier, rewarding and fun.
It is now working on building a waste network that helps reduce ocean plastic pollution including the Buy My Trash initiative.
That program asks people to invest in rubbish which is then collected and the recyclables sent to factories and processors for recycling.
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