Hello and happy Friday yet again. For the second straight week I’m going off the board and making something up as I go along. In a recent shopping trip, I picked up a rhubarb and honey shrub for Mrs. Sharkbait and figured I would do some experimenting with it.
I determined that tequila would play very well with these flavors, and needing to add a little more liquid to cut the thickness of the shrub, I went with lime juice. Having no shrub experience before, this should be an interesting experiment.
Tequila Shrub:
2 oz. Blanco tequila
.5 oz. Rhubarb and honey shrub
1 oz. Fresh lime juice
Add all ingredients to a shaker filled with ice. Shake and strain into a rocks glass with a large ice cube. Garnish with a lime wheel.
The shrub dominates the nose. I get a lot of vinegar I get a little bit of rhubarb as well. Nothing much from the tequila or the lime juice. Not surprising since vinegar has an extremely strong odor, so it would be hard to cover that up. If I’m being honest here, the nose isn’t all that appealing. Vinegar isn’t something I would normally associate with a cocktail, and I think the nose is one reason why.
The sip starts out bitter and slightly vinegary (if slightly vinegary is even possible) from the shrub, but then the tequila and lime juice combine to mellow out the bitter and vinegar front. The rest of the sip mellow, and ends with a citrus and bitter flavor. The end flavor reminds me of grapefruit for some reason. Not having much experience with rhubarb, but I wonder if that ingredient, combined with the lime juice mimics the grapefruit flavor. Either way, I like the finish of this. The tequila is very muted in this application. You can tell it’s in there, but I think a tequila hater would enjoy this one. I don’t get any honey at all. I wonder if it’s purpose is to mellow out the other flavors and add some viscosity to the shrub itself.
For my first experience with a shrub, I think I did well here. I’m interested in experimenting more with this flavor, as well as some others I’ve seen around. I think I’m going to stick with tequila and gin as the base spirits though. Based on this experience, vodka might not have enough flavor to balance the vinegar, and I wouldn’t go near any whiskey or rum with this.
How could one experiment with a non-tequila version of this? Because tequila is sweat from Satan’s ballsack.
Gin I think is the only other alternative. Vodka doesnt have enough of a base flavor to combat the shrub vinegar/bitter flavor
I feel like I’ve learned something today about shrubs, and that’s a good enough Friday.
I was a fucking bartender until 4 yrs ago and have NEVER seen this before.
One Screaming Viking, please
Sorry; I misunderstood.
+1 burnt house
T-Boz, Cyclops, and Chili
Ok, I’ll be the one to say it: What’s a shrub?
Should’ve explained it more in the post. basically its a flavored add on for drinks, either alcoholic or not. They tend to be vinegar based. I’m not sure why but they mostly are.
I was wondering about the origin of the word. Per wiki: The term “shrub” is borrowed from the Arabic word sharāb meaning “to drink”
Like this?
Now you’ve done it. Next week’s drink will be a lychee martini with a sardine & cucumber shrub… (an excellent pairing with Thai cuisine)
It’s an old timey thing. (also from Wiki: The American version of the shrub has its origins in 17th century England where vinegar was used as an alternative to citrus juices in the preservation of berries and other fruits for the off-season)
Lady BFC likes shrubs, i think they’re meh. Definitely agree with the gin take, and a little shrub goes a loooong way.
It absolutely does. I wouldn’t go more than the half ounce I used here.
Same here. The Good Mrs. Reefer enjoys them, but they’re too vinegary for my everso delicate palate. (She also really likes the sour beers, so I’m thinking if you enjoy sweet & sour things, you might like shrubs)
Ni!
claps hands and slaps knees to sound like a horse.
+1 Icky-Icky-Icky-Ptang-Zoop-Boing!