Caribbean Shrub (Death & Co. Recipe)

I've drank shrub cocktails before. I rather like them. This is the first I've made from scratch. A shrub is a mixture of vinegar, fruit and sugar. Some barenders keep living shrubs in jars, feeding them with leftover wine. This shrub is a balsamic gastrique, which is more like a dark, tangy sauce drizzled on cooked meats or vegetables as an accent flavor. 

The reception of this cocktail was tremendous. Sweet cocktails need balance with acid, and this acid (the strawberry balsamic gastrique) had barrel aged balsamic vinegar and strawberries cooked into it. The chemical formula of vinegar is different from citric acid, your typical lemon juice acid, and we take notice with our senses. But the drink works. It transports you to a colonial time when shrubs were used to preserve fruits and add acid to cocktails that haven't been in fashion for 200 years.

To make the strawberry-balsamic gastrique combine 1 1/2 cups of sugar and 1 1/2 cups of water. Cook over low heat stirring constantly the sugar is dissolved. Add 2 cups of cut strawberries and simmer for 30 minutes while stirring occasionally. Stir in 1 cup of balsamic vinegar and raise heat to a boil while stiring contiuously. Lower the temperatore and allow to thicken for 30 minutes, still stirring. Allow to cool and strain through a cheesecloth. This gastrique will keep if refrigerated for up to three weeks.

For the Caribbean Shrub recipe:

• 1 oz. Appleton Estate rum (George Bowman used)
• 1 oz. Rhum Agricole blanc (Barbancourt 4-year-old used)
• 3/4 oz. strawberry-balsamic gastrique
• 3/4 oz. cane sugar syrup
• 1/2 strawberry garnish

Shake all liquid ingredients with three ice cubes in a shaker to chill. Strain into a highball glass filled with crushed ice. Garnish with the half strawberry.

 

Marnier Martini

There's so many Martini variations: many that don't even use the word Martini, but are pretty much the same thing. Still others that carry the name have nothing in common with the classic recipe--I'm looking at you Espresso Martini. The Marnier Martini is more traditional than most. Sometimes the addition of a garnish, whether it be a pickle, a beet, or roasted vegetables, can make a huge difference. For the Marnier, the garnish is anchovies and anchovy vinegar.

Let's start off by saying that this is a cocktail for seafood lovers. You really have to enjoy the briny and salty flavor of anchovies. Whether you use vodka or gin, the overall profile, while light, is going to have ocean funk--hence the name.

To make the anchovy vinegar, simply take a few tiny anchovy fillets and pat them dry. Soak them in enough white wine vinegar that they are submerged (1-2 ounces only unless you plan on making a ton of these). Leave them to soak for at least two days until the anchovy flavor infuses into the vineger. Use the rest of the anchovies in the can for stuffing olives if that is your thing. I find an olive is a great delivery system for these guys, since they don't look too appetizing floating in the drink.

• 2-3 oz. Gin (MurLarkey ImaGination used)
• anchovy infused white wine vinegar (several dashes to 2 tsp. according to taste)
• olives (preferably stuffed with anchovies