Jacob Martin

"Most restaurant-facilitated charities focus on vulnerable populations and causes in the world around them. These efforts are quintessential to uplifting the communities we serve, however, they often overlook the core demographic that made Ketel One famous in bars everywhere; bartenders.

40 years ago my grandmother Irene, tended bar in Waterloo, Canada, where she raised 5 children in abject poverty. 35 public housing projects in just ten years would be their home, and empty plates their nightly meal. While this was a different time, the problem was never what she earned, but rather the information she had access to. Too many bartenders in my community carry the same albatross, and study after study shows that people who work the wood are at a disproportionate risk for violence, sickness, injury and financial insecurity.

For my Ketel One Garnished with Good Initiative, I aim to change that. My cocktail Klarity, a simple highball made from Ketel One, white strawberry, tomato and grapefruit, is garnished with a QR code. The link, soon to be distributed to top bars across Toronto, connects bartenders to the "Bartenders Benevolent Fund'' an organization which since 2020, has provided over 1 million dollars in emergency assistance to those unable to pay rent, medical bills or groceries. What's more, with our friends at BBF we are actively connecting hospitality workers with financial literacy courses so they can better build emergency funds, consolidate debt, access insurance, and create a brighter future. All it takes is a bit of Klarity."

Klarity

Glass: Collins
Garnish: Basil mist and QR Code
Method: Build
Ice: Collins spear

Ingredients:
40 ml Ketel One Family-Made Vodka
25 ml White Strawberry Lactic Cordial
30 ml Clarified Oroblanco and lime
26 ml Clarified tomato water
60 ml Soda water
0.4 ml MSG solution

To make Green Strawberry Lactic Cordial:
1000 grm White strawberries
1000 grm Sugar
88% Lactic acid solution

De-stem and cut strawberries into quarters to maximize surface area. Combine in a vac bag with equal parts sugar and seal. Macerate. The following day set sous vide to 45 ̊C. Cook for two hours and fine strain. Add 1 grm lactic acid to every 100 ml of syrup adjusting as necessary for inconsistencies in fruit. Adjust to 50 brix. Freeze in 1L bags.

To make Clarified GF/Lime:
2000 ml Oroblanco grapefruit juice
666 ml Lime juice
.2% Weight pectinex, Kieselsol(twice), Chitosan

Mix juices together. Add .2% Pectinex and .2% Kieselsol, stir and wait 15 minutes. Add .2% Chitosan, stir and wait 15 minutes. Add Kieselsol and wait a minimum of 30 minutes. Strain through coffee filter multiple times, the more passes the clearer the final product will be.

To make MSG Solution:
2 grm MSG
100 grm Distilled Water

Combine at room temperature. Store in Pipette

To make Ketlel One Cocktail Skewer and Basil mist:
1 Bunch basil
100 ml Ketel One

Cold infuse overnight. Coffee filter and add to mister.