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Vinegar is having a moment — in your drink

By: Maggie Hennessy October 10, 2014

When it comes to cocktails, Chicagoans have seen and drunk it all, it seems: whiskey from an ice balloon; eggs and bacon in cocktails, vaportinis, sliced fungal garnishes, the return of moonshine and tiki drinks.

Now vinegar is making its way onto cocktail menus — often under the “shrub” designation.

“Bartenders have been playing around with shrubs for a few years, and now they're having their moment in the sun,” says Mike Ryan, Sable's head bartender.

A shrub is vinegar, fruit and sugar reduced together to make a syrup. In ancient Rome, sour wine or vinegar was mixed with honey for soldiers in the Roman army. Asian cultures have drunk vinegar for its digestive benefits for centuries. In 17th and 18th century England — and subsequently colonial America — shrubs made with vinegared syrups and carbonated water or spirits were a popular soft drink.

In more recent history, the United States has been slow to embrace the thought of drinking the stuff they're used to tossing with lettuce or sprinkling on chips.

Three Dots and a Dash bartender Paul McGee encountered shrubs five years ago in San Francisco at Nopa restaurant. He's been incorporating them into cocktails since he opened his tiki­themed bar last year, largely because they lengthen the life span of ingredients with short seasons, such as stone fruit.

“Shrubs are great because they allow you to get fruit at its peak and have it last all year long — kind of like canning,” he says.

He uses a habanero shrub in a swizzle cocktail called Don't Touch My Bikini, along with Genever gin, coconut, lime and angostura bitters. He has also offered cocktails with pineapple, tangerine and tamarind shrubs, all using apple cider vinegar as the base.

But a little goes a long way — you need only about a quarter ounce per standard cocktail, he adds.

Jason Brown, who heads up the cocktail program at Kinmont, the new seafood restaurant in River North, says that more often than not, his use of shrubs in a cocktail or “mocktail” is minuscule. “Above all, you're looking for balance,” he says.

Because acid is used in cocktails primarily to provide balance, the distinctive flavor and high pH of vinegar means it plays a limited role. To offset that unmistakable vinegar quality, many bartenders blend it with tropical fruits and/or strong herbs (e.g., plum and fennel, pineapple and sage or strawberry and Thai chili — recipe below).

The Violet Hour makes its own vinegar­based bitters. “They give us a bit more freedom to create interesting flavor profiles in small batches,” general manager Eden Laurin says.

Kinmont's Mr. Brown uses vinegar to extend the shelf life of mocktail ingredients while also bringing an acidic bite. Alcohol adds shelf life to syrups, purees and juices, but to make them non­alcoholic, vinegar also works, he says.

“I think shrubs have legs in the same way that most culinary innovations of the past five or 10 years have,” Mr. Ryan says. “Everybody is putting it on the menu now. Then in another six or eight months, it's not going to go anywhere; it'll just become part of the canon.” Publican Quality Meats sells Som Drinking Vinegars made by Thai food evangelist Andy Ricker, who started by making them for drinks at his Portland restaurant Pok Pok.

Dream a Little Dream

Mike Ryan, Sable

Strawberry­Thai­Chili Shrub

• 1 cup rice wine vinegar

• 1¼ cup sugar

• 1 cup strawberries (very ripe, hulled and sliced)

• 2 T black tea leaves

• 10 small Thai bird chilies

Muddle strawberries well; then add sugar and vinegar. Stir to combine, cover and let sit five days; strain.

Meanwhile: Bring 1 cup water to a bare simmer. Add the chilies, chopped, seeds in. Let sit about an hour, or until the water is really spicy. Heat to 160 F, add black tea leaves and let sit about 10 minutes.

Strain and add to the shrub mixture. It should be fruity, spicy and tannic with a sweet and sour characteristic.

—Maggie Hennessy