Shrub 101: The Historic Cocktail Mixer Is Reborn

So much of the current craft cocktail boom is about rediscovery. From the resurgence of long forgotten drinks like the Last Word to the quest for evermore obscure and arcane techniques, what’s old is new again.

Shrub syrups — an acidulated beverage of vinegar, fruit, and sugar — are one such historic cocktail component enjoying a new life. Shrub recipes can vary wildly depending on the vinegar, fruit and sugar used. The result is a versatile, sweet and tart syrup that is a refreshing pick me up when combined with carbonated water, alcohol, or both.

Popular in America during the Colonial era, shrubs were favored as a thirst-quencher as well as for their medicinal benefits in treating fevers and other maladies. An additional benefit of shrubs for early Americans was their long shelf lives. The vinegar, which prevents putrefaction, allowed them to be kept at room temperature for long periods without the risk of spoilage.

The practice of combining shrubs with spirits was a natural progression. Easily produced and often on hand, they quickly found their way into punches, or were mixed with rum or brandy. With the advent of refrigeration, however, shrubs fell out of favor, and were lost to history until a new generation of bartenders began experimenting with them in recent years.

To understand how to incorporate shrubs into our cocktail canon, we spoke with Ben Lohnes, who frequently uses them when mixing up drinks as bar manager at the Tides Beach Club in Kennebunkport, Maine.

Paste: How did you discover shrubs?
Ben Lohnes: I have known about shrubs for many years as they were very popular in in the 17th and 18th century. I’ve only recently, within the past three or four years, been implementing them into our cocktail program here at the Tides.