Berry Shrub

Between Rick, Eric and David there have been more than enough reasons for me to bring up the topic of Shrub. I first came across Shrub when I had purchased my first copy of Bon Vivant’s Companion, and was immediately intrigued and repulsed. Raspberries? Check. Sugar? Check. Vinegar?!?! Are you freakin’ serious? What possible reason can you give me to put bad wine into my cocktails?

Well, palates and paradigms change, so after giving it some careful thought, I’ve decided to give the lowly Shrub a chance. Why the change of heart? It came to me as a drunken angel in the night, puking on my shoes. Vinegar, (like vomit) is merely acid! I could use the shrub to help balance sweetness in a cocktail in much the same way I would use lemon juice or even bitters (but not vomit).

Reinvigorated with new ideas, I decided to pull out Jerry’s book and look at that first recipe of Shrub I had discovered years ago.

JERRY THOMAS’ RASPBERRY SHRUB
3 gallons of raspberry juice
2 do. vinegar
48 lbs. of sugar
Boiled and skimmed for half an hour; when cold add 1 ½ gallon of good French brandy. Filter.

Getting the gist of the recipe (I rarely follow Jerry’s recipes to the letter, but rather use them as guidelines) I set about making my own batch of Shrub. Recipe to follow much further below.

Having completed and tasted the Shrub, I quickly realized that it wasn’t nearly as horrible as I’d thought it might be. As a matter of fact, it was darn tasty. Tangy dark fruit balanced by acid and sweetness enveloped my palate like a satin sheet. This may very well be my next “new” ingredient that I’ll over use in my next hundred cocktail creations! Let’s start with cocktail number one!

When I was creating this first cocktail, I realized that the drink had all the hallmarks of Paul Clarke. We all know that he has always loved rye, that he has recently had an affair with sherry, and that he has always been a champion of things home made. When he came into Vessel the other day, I made the following cocktail for him, of which he approved. The issue now, for our dear friend Paul, is where else is he going to be able to order this pleasant libation? And therein lies….

CLARKE’S CONUNDRUM
2 ¼ oz rye
½ oz Pedro Ximenez Sherry
½ oz raspberry/blackberry shrub
3 dashes of Angostura bitters
lemon twist
stir all ingredients with ice
garnish with lemon twist

This is quite the complex concoction, with the acid of the vinegar showing up to balance out the PX, but without forcing itself upon your nose or palate. The spiciness of the rye adds a great backbone and the lemon twist is essential if you want to keep the drink bright. I’m very pleased with this drink, and it even spawned an offspring, for a regular who always insists on rum-based cocktails.

JANS’ CONUNDRUM
2 ¼ oz Barbancourt 8 yr rum
½ oz Dry Amontillado Sherry
½ oz raspberry/blackberry shrub
3 dashes of Angostura bitters
lemon twist
stir all ingredients with ice
garnish with lemon twist

Of course none of this would be possible without a recipe for Shrub, so as promised, here is my version. Please keep in mind that this was my first attempt of an experiment that I thought for sure would fail, so the following are approximations of the amounts that I used, as I didn’t really measure and went more by gut and palate.

BOUDREAU’S BERRY SHRUB
1 pint raspberries
1 pint blackberries
1 bottle red wine vinegar
½ cup sugar
½ cup water
throw all but vinegar into a pot and simmer for about 10 minutes
add vinegar and boil for about 2 minutes
skim and strain resulting mixture and bottle
skim and strain next day as well

Picture and drink by:
Jamie Boudreau
www.vesselseattle.com

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~ by Jamie Boudreau on November 8, 2007.