You might not enjoy slurping down a glass of vinegar, but throw some fruit and sugar in with the vinegar and the resulting shrub, as it’s called, makes any drink — alcoholic or not — a refreshing thirst-quencher.
Although vinegar-based syrups haven’t been common in the days since canning and refrigeration were invented, they’ve been making a comeback in the craft cocktail world as bartenders bring back pre-Prohibition recipes and ingredients. Writer Michael Dietsch has been right in the center of shrubs’ resurgence, and he’s written a book, “Shrubs: An Old-Fashioned Drink for Modern Times” (Countryman Press, $24.95), to help people make them in their own homes, much as they would have done at the height of shrubs’ popularity in the late 1700s through the 1800s.
Dietsch’s book includes a history of the shrub and nearly 50 shrub recipes, as well as a variety of cocktail recipes that feature them. Shrubs often add an extra element of flavor — they can just as easily be tart and savory as sweet, with many containing herbs and vegetables rather than, or in addition to, fruits — to cocktails like the Ultramodern, a twist on the Old-Fashioned.
Ultramodern
2 oz. bourbon
1/2 oz. Scotch, preferably something smoky, like Laphroaig
1/2 oz. Fig-Cinnamon Shrub (see below)
2 dashes Angostura bitters
Add all ingredients to an ice-filled mixing glass. Stir to combine.
Double-strain into a rocks glass filled with ice.
Fig-Cinnamon Shrub
1 pint purple figs, puréed in a blender
1 cup apple cider vinegar
1-2 cinnamon sticks (depending on how subtle a flavor you want)
1 cup turbinado sugar
Combine puréed figs, apple cider vinegar and cinnamon in a container. Allow to steep on the countertop for two days. Taste. If you started with one cinnamon stick and you want more cinnamon flavor, add a second stick and allow to steep another day.
Strain off fig solids and cinnamon. Pour liquid into a bottle or jar, add turbinado sugar, and shake. Allow to sit for at least a week before using.
— Michael Dietsch, “Shrubs”
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