Be on the lookout for this month’s edition of the Costco Connection magazine and please be sure to read the “Pucker Power” article which features insights from Ignite’s very own Mixologist, Tony Tuttle!
The article discusses cocktail “shrubs” which are a rapidly growing segment of the craft cocktail movement.
Vinegar, in ancient times, would have been used to sterilize dirty water to make it drinkable. In American colonial times people mixed vinegar, fruit and sugar to create a refreshing drink, which is essentially the basis of what is known as a shrub today: vinegar, fruit (or an herb or vegetable) and sugar. “It’s essentially like pickling,” says Tuttle. “Historically, vinegar would have been used to preserve fruit after the harvest. The concoction then may have been used as a vitamin C supplement in the Winter or added to whiskey to prevent scurvy. Now, we make punches with the fermented fruit.”
For more information on shrubs, including a Cranberry & Sage Shrub recipe to make this holiday season, be sure and stop by your local Costco for a copy of Costco Connection.
Image: © jerryjamesstone.com