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If you’ve ever looked closely at the cocktail bar you’re sitting at, you’ve probably noticed an assortment of small bottles—some filled with syrups, others filled with fruit or herbal infusions—near the garnishes, glass-rim seasonings, and bitters, or in the cooler. These are simple syrups and cocktail shrubs.
Earlier this year we talked about the obsession with the latest kitchen It girl (vinegar), but we didn’t dive into the different ways it can be utilized outside of salad dressings and drizzles. When mixed with other ingredients like fruit juices, spices, and herbs, it can then become a drinking vinegar—a sweetened, vinegar-based syrup that, linguistically, holds a close tie to the Arabic word sharab, which means “to drink.”
