Reddit reviews Shrubs: An Old Fashioned Drink for Modern Times

Someone on this sub recommended this book and I recently ordered it. Pretty excited to learn some good shrubs myself!

My own creation. Inspired by the Jungle Bird and my lack of pineapple juice and rum. The name is inspired by the legend that Benjamin Franklin proposed the turkey as the national bird, though apparently that is not actually true.

2 oz Benjamin Franklin's shrub (from Shrubs by Michael Dietsch)

3/4 oz Campari

3/4 oz lime juice

Shaken with ice, optional strain (I chose not to) into glass.

I had picked up the shrub book at the end of December and had fun making a few with the limited amount of produce available in the winter. I didn't have any normal rum on hand when I discovered this drink, but I did have the Benjamin Franklin's shrub that I had made with Smith & Cross, and I figured it'd help take the place of the rum, pineapple juice, and simple syrup in the Jungle Bird. I'm still playing around with the ratios, but I figured I'd dial up the lime juice to make up for the lack of pineapple juice. There is orange juice in the shrub, but that doesn't add a whole lot of acidity.

This is a different kind of shrub than is commonly used with the shrub resurgence. It is not vinegar based.

Benjamin Franklin's shrub (taken from Michael Dietsch's Shrubs)

1. In a gallon-sized jar, add orange peels (3-4 oranges) and dark rum. Allow peels to infuse in the rum overnight.
   
   
2. Meanwhile, combine orange juice (3/4 cup, ~3 oranges) and sugar (1/2 cup turbinado or demerara), and allow that to set overnight so the sugar begins to dissolve into the juice.
   
   
3. The next day, remove the peels from the rum and add the sweetened juice. Seal the jar and let it sit in a cool, dark place for about 3 to 4 weeks.
   
   Seriously, get this book. It's a lot of fun. And with the weather warming up, there will be so many more possibilities of shrubs to make. It's a perfect excuse to get out on the weekend and explore your local farmers market. You can use bruised and broken fruit that otherwise probably would be thrown away, and you can usually get them for a discount. Happy shrubbing.

Let me know how they turn out. If you have any questions, please message me! I can also recommend the book Shrubs by Michael Dietsch as a reference point for ratios and recipe ideas.

There are so many good ones, and if I may, I'd like to recommend my two favorites, from Michael Dietsch's "Shrubs" book:

Celery Shrub, the most surprising one for me:

• 1 lb celery leaves still on
  
• 1 cup sugar
  
• 1 cup apple cider vinegar
  
  Blend cut-up celery with 1/2 cup water, strain over fine mesh strainer (optionally with cheese cloth), mix celery juice with other ingredients in jar, shake every other day to help sugar dissolve. This is great by itself, with gin, or even in a Bloody Mary.
  
  Strawberry Balsamic Vinegar
  
  
• 1 1/2 cups strawberries, hulled and quartered
  
• 1/2 cup sugar
  
• 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
  
  Combine fruit and sugar, cover with plastic in bowl in fridge, macerate at least 2 hours or up to a day. Strain out, add vinegar to liquid, whisk. Strain again in jar, refrigerate. Use the solids for something else fun! This is great with tequila and basil, but it's also too good by itself, diluted a bit by ice and good seltzer.

I haven't tried it, but I don't see why it wouldn't work. I assume the balance between the Earl Grey and the botanicals of the gin you use would be different. Also, it will create a potential issue with having the sweetness level directly tied to the level of the Earl Grey flavor, perhaps making it more difficult to bring the proportions to balance.

Michael Dietsch of A Dash of Bitters blog and author of the recently released Shrubs: An Old Fashioned Drink for Modern Times posted a variation on the recipe that incorporates iced Earl Grey tea rather than infusing.

In addition to Shrubs: An Old Fashioned Drink for Modern Times, (recommended below by /u/badhoneylips), I recommend Bitters and Shrub Syrup Cocktails: Restorative Vintage Cocktails, Mocktails, and Elixirs.

The "Ginger Lime Shrub" from Bitters and Shrub Syrup Cocktails is excellent. Like many (most?) shrub, it calls for apple cider vinegar.

For a twist, you can also make the "Quick Balsamic-Fig Shrub" which uses balsamic vinegar to great effect.

There's a great book on Shrubs that's worth picking up.

https://www.amazon.com/Shrubs-Fashioned-Drink-Modern-Times/dp/1581572441