Welcome to the second entry in our “Shrub Chronicles.” We’re kind of just getting started with these concoctions. At some point, we’ll have enough of a collection that the casual observer might mistakenly think this is a landscaping blog. Until that day, let us just bask in the sweet-tangy perfection of the traditional drinking vinegar. We’re always on the lookout for ways to simplify and/or accelerate the preparation of our favorite things. In that vein, this recipe utilizes the “cold” method for creating shrubs, with some slight adjustment to make it even simpler still. Traditional recipes call for a 7-10 day infusing period for the vinegar, which might work for you once you have a small stockpile of shrubs already at your disposal, but it’s early summer and there is drinking to be done, dammit. Who has time to wait around for more than a week? Yeah, us neither.
Fortunately, Kyle perfected a method that results in a beautiful, balanced, infused vinegar in just a few days. While this is a huge improvement, they are a torturous few days, nonetheless. With the support of family and friends, somehow we muddled through. (Muddle…*snicker*)
The trick is to let the fruit and sugar sit and macerate for a day, then add the vinegar and let it steep for another couple of days. The secret to our improved method is to forgo the 1:1 vinegar to sugar ratio and instead reduce the amount of vinegar to 3/4 cup for every cup of sugar. The reduced volume of vinegar allows the mixture to mellow faster, resulting in a balanced, refreshing shrub in a third of the time.
The technique allows for a wide array of combinations based on the fruit(s) being featured. You can use a wide variety of vinegars, such as apple cider, champagne, rice wine, balsamic, and white or red wine varieties. The same goes for the sugar options. You can go with simple white, or get fancy with light or dark brown sugar, or even fancier with turbinado, demerara or muscovado varieties. It’s your call.
For this recipe, utilizing fresh summer peaches, we opted for dark brown sugar to complement the sweet fruit and white wine vinegar to keep that sweetness from being overpowering. Given that the ultimate intention was to create the peach and bourbon iced tea, the brown sugar also played into the caramel notes in the bourbon, giving the finished cocktail a cohesiveness of flavor that was welcome and completely intentional, of course. If you’re in need of a non-alcoholic version, the shrub works just as beautifully without the bourbon. We found that the sweetness of the shrub was sufficient and opted for unsweetened tea for the cocktail.
If your sweet tooth works out regularly and is a little more developed, feel free to use sweetened tea, especially for the non-alcoholic version. We would advise that you try the cocktail with the unsweetened tea first, then go from there depending on your personal taste. You wouldn’t want to waste anything. We’re just looking out for the bourbon you. Cheers!
- For the Shrub:
- 1 pound peaches, pitted and sliced
- 1 cup dark brown sugar
- ¾ cup white wine vinegar
- For the Bourbon Peach Tea:
- 1 ounce bourbon
- 1 ounce peach shrub
- 2 ounces iced tea
- Juice from ½ a lemon
- 2 mint leaves, plus more for garnish
- 2 thin peach slices, for garnish
- For the shrub, in a large bowl, mix the peaches and brown sugar. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
- Add the vinegar and stir to combine. Cover and refrigerate at least 2 days.
- Strain the shrub mixture through a fine mesh sieve and store in clean glass jars. The shrub should keep refrigerated 2 to 3 weeks.
- For the Bourbon Peach Tea, in a cocktail shaker with ice, combine bourbon, peach shrub, iced tea, lemon juice and mint. Shake well and strain into a glass filled with ice. Garnish with peach slices and additional mint leaves.
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