How do you make shrub drinks? While we recommend buying from us, we thought we'd show you how these delicious drinks are made. Give it a go if you are feeling brave!
There are some really fantastic videos out there online that we recommend checking out. The mixologists from Modern Rogue give a really great and humorous breakdown of what shrubs are and how to make them using whatever you find in your local supermarket. The combination of flavours are pretty interesting so we recommend you giving them a watch. Finally Tom Dyer bartender’s Youtube channel is always filled with excellent cocktail and cocktail recipe ideas. He’s created a really great recipe for pineapple shrubs if you’re looking for something a little more tropical.
Method
The basics are pretty simply. Essentially the ingredients are fruit, sugar and syrup. You want equal parts of each. Depending on which fruit you are using there will be a slightly different preparation. In general you want to clean them and curt them into smaller chunks. For example with strawberries, you willed to remove there stalk, and for peaches the stone. Most fruits it’s ok to leave the skin on. There are some obvious exceptions to this - pineapple, oranges etc. Even apples the skin may be too thick so remove this as well.
Once the fruit is prepared, pop them in a sealable tub/jar. To make the fruits work quicker, use a muddler (or the back of a spoon) to break these down further in the jar. Next up add in the sugar - again equal parts to the amount of fruit. Any will do, but we recommend white. Next ups the vinegar. Like the sugar, we want to keep this plain so we don’t add too much extra flavour to the shrub. We recommend Apple cider vinegar or white balsamic.
Next up - seal, give them a shake and pop in the fridge. Depending how strong you want the taste will depend on how long you leave it in the fridge. Start with a few days, then try every other day to see the intensity. And that’s it! You can now make whatever cocktails and mocktails you please. When making drinks make sure you strain the mixture to ensure none of the fruit gets inside. We have some great recipes coming up from our mixologist Hamish Bremnar, so keep your eyes peeled for these on our website.
But seriously, that’s a lot of waiting around - and it takes more time than you think - especially if it’s your first time, you want to get it right. These last couple of years have been hard enough, why not take it easy and simply order them online? Give yourself a break, pour yourself a cocktail and enjoy!
