Beet Infused Vodka Martini

The inspiration for this post came from two things:
1. I recently had a delicious drink at the Craftsman that included beet infused vodka, lime, and cointreau.
2. I am doing some research about alcohols that are GF (especially because Gin, my fave liquor, is definitely not!)

I discovered that many vodkas (ones made only with potato), all good quality tequilas, and most rums are GF. The folks at Zipps seem very knowledgeable about their GF products - which is helpful because many of the bottles are not labeled. Cointreau, incidentally, is GF.

I came across an excerpt of "Hip Sips" - a cocktail book that includes a beet infused vodka drink. I followed her technique for the infusing. This photo is right after I added the beets - 3 days later the vodka was opaque.

My take on the Craftsman's drink:
Ice cubes for chilling and shaking
3 oz. beet vodka (I used Rain Organics)
1 oz. fresh lime juice
1 oz. cointreau
splash of simple syrup*

Fill martini glass with ice and set aside to chill. Shake ingredients in a cocktail shaker for 10 seconds. Empty ice from glass. Strain drink into glass and drink immediately!

*Recipe thoughts: I am wondering if I add more cointreau if I could eliminate the simple syrup all together?

I also came across this really delicious looking recipe for beet infused tequila with rosemary infused simple syrup...which I tried (this is an addendum now). Kinda strange. I maybe like my tequila straight up.