Tart Up Your Cocktails Using Shrubs
Vinegar takes a break from the salad dressing cruet to lend tangy acidity to libations.
In the same way that vinegar preserves fresh pickled vegetables, it can be used savor just-picked fruit months later. By macerating or cooking vinegar with sugar, with fresh fruit (e.g. stone fruit, berries, melons) one can incorporate acidity and sweetness in the shaker. Moreover, since shrubs — as these mixtures are called — last way longer than a pint of blackberries or a bushel of peaches, you can effortlessly, and sustainably, mix up garden-to-glass cocktails all year long. The sharp, angular acidity they impart will have you swapping out citrus in no time.
These half dozen cocktails make use of zippy, tangy shrubs; use them in their intended recipes, then add them to riffs of classic drinks or your own creations. Mixed with club soda over ice, shrubs also make for fun, flavorful, zero-proof beverages.
Lesser Evil
Lesser Evil photo credit Alyssa Bonk
Recipe courtesy of Lukas Smith, Beverage Director, The Line Hotel, Washington, D.C.
“One of the flaws—I said it—of Tiki drinks is their tendency to sweetness,” Smith admits. “The beauty of vinegar here is that acetic acid persists on the palate longer than typical fruit acids, so it attacks harder and persists longer on the palate.” He describes this Tiki tipple as refreshingly zippy, with an enticing heat from spicy ginger juice.
1 oz. Plantation O.F.T.D. Rum
2 oz. spiced pineapple shrub (see Note)
½ oz. lime juice
Splash soda
Lime wedge and metal straw, for garnish
Add the first three ingredients to a Collins glass, then add pebble ice. Using a swizzle stick placed between your hands, swizzle the drink until it’s well-chilled. Add more pebble ice, top with a splash of soda and garnish with a lime wedge and a metal straw.
For the spiced pineapple shrub:
Crush 1 teaspoon allspice berries and 1 teaspoon cloves using a mortar and pestle. Transfer to a ball jar, cover with ¼ cup vodka and let stand for several days. Strain out solids using a cheesecloth. Add 2 cups pineapple juice, 1 cup turbinado sugar, ⅔ cup Champagne vinegar, ¼ cup ginger juice, 4 drop rosewater, 2-4 teaspoons of the allspice/clove tincture (to taste) and ⅔ cup water to a glass container. Stir to combine, then store in the refrigerator for up to several months.
Lovely Rita
Recipe courtesy of Jonathan Stanyard, Founder, The Bitter Gringo
Stanyard says this libation, named for the Beatles song, tastes as expected: bright, boozy and refreshing, with layers and aromas that let the finish linger on. He builds on the classic Margarita using local Pacific Northwest flavors, including a shrub made with seasonal strawberries and rhubarb. “Vinegar in this cocktail adds extra pop, tang and funk,” he says. “Using a shrub creates more depth and complexity than only citrus juice.” Stanyard recommends avoiding harsh and abrasive distilled vinegars; he likes to use Champagne vinegar with stone fruits and apple cider vinegar with dark berries.
Lovely Rita photo credit Jonathan Stanyard
1 ½ oz. Reposado Tequila
¾ oz. Cointreau
¾ oz. lime juice
½ oz. salted strawberry-rhubarb shrub (see note)
¼ oz. Campari
Lime wheel and orange blossom-rosemary mist for garnish
Add all ingredients except garnish to a cocktail shaker, add ice and shake well for 12 seconds. Fine strain to a chilled cocktail glass, mist the orange-blossom-rosemary mist across the glass and place a lime wheel on the rim.
For the salted strawberry-rhubarb shrub:
Add 1 ½ cups diced strawberries, 1 cup chopped rhubarb stalks, ¼ cup cane sugar, ½ cup water and 1 split and scraped vanilla bean to a saucepan. Simmer over medium-low heat, then reduce heat to low and cook softly for 10 minutes. Remove from the heat, mash the fruit slightly, cover, steep and let cool. Strain out the solids using a fine mesh strainer, add a generous pinch of salt and weigh the syrup. Add apple cider vinegar in the amount of 25% of the weight of the syrup, mix well, transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate for 6-12 months.
For the orange blossom-rosemary mist:
Soak 1 tablespoon of fresh rosemary needles in 2 tablespoons of orange blossom water, and let it infuse for 48 hours. Strain and store in an atomizer.
Summer En El Sur
Recipe courtesy of José Medina Camacho, Owner/Mixologist, Adiõs, Birmingham, Alabama
Camacho was looking for something refreshing and low ABV to quench his thirst during a hot southern summer, so he created this drink that uses a seasonal berry shrub. “Think of the shrub as the perfect melody of sugar and acid,” he says. “It adds a small bite and health benefits.” If you can’t find Cappelletti Pasubio, feel free to substitute another Italian amaro.
Summer En El Sur
1 ½ oz. Cappelletti Pasubio Vino Amaro
1 ½ oz. blackberry/blueberry/epazote shrub (see note)
2-3 oz. sparkling mineral water
Lime wedge and epazote leaves for garnish
Add the Pasubio and shrub to a cocktail shaker, add ice and shake until well-chilled. Fine strain into a Collins glass and top with the sparkling water. Add ice, stir gently and garnish with the lime wedges and epazote leaves.
For the blackberry/blueberry shrub:
Add 2 cups fresh blueberries, ⅔ cup blackberries and 1 ½ cups agave syrup to a medium pot and macerate until the mixture looks like a paste. Add 1 ¾ cup apple cider vinegar, ½ cup rice vinegar and 25-30 epazote leaves (you can find them at your local Latino market). Bring the mixture to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 10 to 5 minutes. Turn off heat, let mixture cool and strain out solids. Store the shrub in the refrigerator for several months.
Don Johnny
Recipe courtesy of Evan Maffiore, Bar Manager, Bolo, Philadelphia, PA
Don Johnny photo credit Nicole Schofield, PUNCH Media
This savory cocktail has the basic bones of a Daiquiri, but with a twist that pays homage to Bolo’s Latin American cuisine. The shrub is made with recao sofrito, an herbaceous cooking base containing cilantro, peppers, garlic and onions. The drink’s name is an ode to chef Yun Fuentes’ grandfather Juan “Don Johnny” Fuentes, whose nickname, a shortened form of “Abuelo,” is the restaurant’s namesake.
1 ½ oz. Ron Barrilito 2 Star Rum
¾ oz. Recao sofrito shrub (see note)
¾ oz. lime juice
Fresh bay leaf, for garnish
Add the first three ingredients to a cocktail shaker, add ice and shake until well chilled. Strain into a chilled coupe glass and garnish with the bay leaf.
Recao Sofrito Shrub Recipe:
Combine 1 cup recao sofrito (Goya or another brand), 1 cup Champagne vinegar, 1 cup sugar and 2 healthy pinches of salt to a saucepan. Bring ingredients to a boil, let cool to room temperature and strain out solids. Store the shrub in the refrigerator for several months.
1 cup recao sofrito
1 cup Champagne vinegar
1 cup sugar
2 healthy pinches of salt
Bring ingredients to a boil, let cool to room temperature, and strain.
Folly Peach
Recipe courtesy of Ethan Schneider, Bar Manager, Herd Provisions, Charleson, South Carolina
Peaches in South Carolina are known for their distinct juice and sweetness, which shines through in the shrub. “This drink offers a punchy, sweet heat that begs you to come back for another sip,” Schneider says. “Small additions of housemade peach shrub and minty simply syrup add an extra layer of depth to this refreshing crowd pleaser.”
Folly Peach
1 ½ oz. jalapeño Tequila (see note)
¾ oz. lime juice
½ oz. Cappelletti
½ oz. mint simple syrup (see Note)
¼ oz. peach shrub (see Note
¼ oz. peach schnapps
Mint sprig, for garnish
Add all ingredients except garnish to a cocktail shaker, add ice and shake until well-chilled. Strain into a rocks glass, top with ice and garnish with a mint sprig that’s first smacked between your palms to express the oil.
For the jalapeño Tequila
Remove the seeds and ribs from 4 jalapeños and roughly chop. Add them to a 750ml bottle of Lunazul Blanco, let infuse overnight and strain out solids.
For the mint simple syrup:
Combine 1 cup mint and 1 cup sugar and let macerate overnight. Add 1 cup of hot water to dissolve sugars, steep for 5 minutes, strain out solids, let cool and refrigerate for up to a week.
For the peach shrub:
Combine 1 washed, chopped peach with ½ cup sugar, and let macerate in the refrigerator for 48 hours. Boil 1 cup water with 1 cup Champagne vinegar, pour over peaches in a strainer to dissolve the remaining sugar. Discard solids and store the shrub in the refrigerator for several months.
Watermelon Sugar High
Recipe courtesy of Jack Rose, New Orleans, Louisiana
This cocktail, whose name refers to a popular Harry Styles tune, is a perfect way to use up some of that huge watermelon that you brought home from the farmer’s market. It’s puréed and strained and made into a shrub that’s a perfect combination with earthy Cachaça and bitter Cardamaro.
Watermelon Sugar High photo credit Jack Rose
2 oz. Cachaça
1 ½ oz. watermelon mint shrub (see note)
1 oz. Cardamaro
½ oz. lemon juice
Bar Spoon cane syrup
Watermelon chunk and mint sprig, for garnish
Add all ingredients except garnish to a cocktail shaker, add ice and shake until well-chilled. Strain into a Collins glass over fresh ice and garnish with the watermelon chunk and a mint sprig.
For the watermelon-mint shrub:
Combine 1 cup water, and 1 cup sugar in a small saucepan, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until the sugar dissolves. Remove from heat, allow to cool completely and add 4 cups puréed and strained watermelon, 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, ¾ cup rice wine vinegar and a cup of fresh mint leaves. Store in the refrigerator for a few hours or until desired mint flavor is reached, strain out solids and store shrub for several months.