The modern American shrub
Ashrub is exactly what the people who invented the phrase “slake your thirst” had in mind. The modern American shrub is a fast-rising star among both cocktail-nation kids and teetotallers with good palates. But it has roots in England, when vinegar was used to preserve fruit. Colonial Americans took the technique with them. Eventually, it became the fashion to pour off the vinegar, mix it with a sweetener and use the syrup as a base for a drink.
Sipping vinegar may seem a counter-intuitive way to refresh a palate. But as with good lemonade, its tartness is its advantage. And unlike lemonade, a one-dimensional drink, shrub is full of character and variety. The ingredients — fruit, sugar and vinegar — are as simple as can be. But the variations are seemingly unlimited. And it has another superpower — a strong shrub game can help you make the most of bruised or ageing summer fruit.
Try mixing one part cherry shrub with two or three parts tonic. Or muddle together tomato and basil, add some apple cider vinegar and give it a little time, then serve it topped with seltzer. Satsuma shrub with a touch of vanilla and seltzer can approximate an ice lolly. It goes on and on. A good apple cider vinegar will work for many shrubs. That’s what Michael Dietsch, a New York City cocktail journalist, used when he started experimenting. His wife, the food blogger and photographer Jennifer Hess, who was then pregnant, complained about all the jars he had in the refrigerator until she realised the shrub was a great cocktail alternative. They ended up doing a book together titled Shrubs.
“I feel like apple cider vinegar is neutral enough to work with most ingredients but still has some vinegar character,” he said. “I don’t use distilled white much because that flavour is harsh.”
Exploring combinations of vinegars, sweeteners and base flavours is the art of the shrub. Dafna Kory, who bottles shrub as a kind of sleeper side business to her boutique the INNA Jam company in Emeryville, California, uses only local vinegars. Delicate white wine vinegar provides sublime support for summer fruit. She adds apple cider vinegar, with its slight funkiness and earthiness, to apples and other more floral autumn fruit like quince.
“It seems a bit odd to drink vinegar,” Kory said. “I’m constantly surprised by how popular they are for being such a weird thing.”