Sprig + Spirit
Aloe Reviver
Isthmus food and drink writer André Darlington is serious about healthy cocktails. It’s not an oxymoron. Standard cocktails can be sugar bombs, and many liquors have chemical dyes and additives — but it doesn’t have to be that way. And his new website, Sprig + Spirit, proves it.
Darlington and his sister, Tenaya (a former Isthmus staffer), recently finished writing a drinks cookbook called Cocktail Hour (forthcoming in spring of 2016 from Running Press) and in the process tested many, many cocktails. “The idea of working on health-conscious recipes evolved naturally,” says Darlington. “We needed a cleanse.”
In the book, they focused on removing sugars whenever feasible and used quality liquors, fresh juices and seasonal herbs. But they wanted to delve deeper into the topic.
“Sprig + Spirit is an extension of the direction we took in the book, as well as what we’re exploring in our own kitchens,” says Darlington.
The pair enjoy “batting cocktail recipes back and forth” between Madison and Philadelphia, Tenaya’s home base. “’Workshopping’ the cocktail — no matter who came up with it originally — always improves the drink,” says Darlington.
The website details “superfoods” that work well in cocktails — from algae to aloe vera — and provides recipes. There’s also a sprightly video instruction from Madison animator Tom Cranley.
For spring, Darlington recommends the Maca-rita. “It’s a margarita made with energizing maca powder,” he says. Maca, an Andean root related to the radish, has woodsy, malty notes, and in a margarita it adds a bass note of warm spice to tequila and lime. “It demonstrates just how easy it is to make a cocktail healthier while at the same time exploring new flavors,” Darlington says.
The Aloe Reviver from Sprig + Spirit will fix you right up.
