October Drink of the Month - The BB Gun (and Fun with Shrubs!)

The most recent issue of Imbibe magazine decided to run a feature this month on shrubs. Sometimes called "drinking vinegar," a shrub is a combination of fruit (and sometimes herbs), sugar and vinegar. Shrubs first popped up in North America in colonial times and gained popularity during the temperance movement as a alternative to spirits. Recently, shrubs have gained popularity as a replacement for bitters, especially in rum and brandy cocktails. They have a really unique sweet and sour flavor and are pretty easy to make at home.

There are multiple ways to make shrubs, but one of the easiest is the cold-process, a means of preparation that takes a little time, but yields a beautiful product. Using a process called maceration (letting the fruit soften in juices in order to extract the flavor) we slowly release the flavor of the fruit and combine it with the acidic vinegar to produce our shrub. For today, we'll detail the process of making a blackberry shrub, and then offer two preparations - as a soda or as a the BB Gun Cocktail (from Jessica Braasch via Imbibe).

To make the blackberry shrub, wash and place two cups of blackberries in a mason jar. Sprinkle 1/2 cup of sugar over the blackberries (I used turbinado sugar since we will be pairing this shrub with aged rum in the cocktail). Allow the berries and sugar to sit for 12-24 hours. Similar to the preparation for strawberry shortcake, the sugar will slowly draw out the juice from the berries, resulting in a sweet, dark syrup. Gently shake the jar and/or crush the berries from time to time to make sure as much berry surface area comes into contact with the sugar as possible. After the allotted time, add 1 cup of apple cider vinegar to the jar. Stir occasionally to make sure all the sugar is dissolved. Allow the mixture to sit, covered, for another 24 hours. Finally, strain the mixture using a fine mesh strainer into a clean jar. Press on the berries in the strainer with a wooden spoon to extract all of the good juice out of the berries before discarding. You should be left with a beautiful, clear dark purple liquid (that will stain your counter top like the dickens, so be aware).

The shrub can be used on its own to make a soda by combining it with seltzer water. Simply add the desired amount of shrub to a glass and top with soda water. I used 2 oz of shrub and 8 oz of soda for a refreshing, sweet and sour concoction. If your tastes run sweeter, you can also add a splash of simple syrup to the mix.

However, our reason for making the shrub was to try out a new drink featuring aged rum. Below is the recipe for the "BB Gun" recipe from Kask in Portland:

In a cocktail shaker, combine the following ingredients:

1.5 oz aged rum (I used Bacardi 8 Anos - this is the most readily available)

1 oz blackberry shrub

3/4 oz fresh lime juice

1/4 oz 1:1 simple syrup (I ended up using closer to 1/2 oz, but I'm an unrepentant "sweet" drink guy)

Shake over ice and strain into a Collins glass filled with ice. Top with soda. The recipe calls for a garnish of mint leaves and a lime wheel.

The drink has an incredibly different taste from most cocktails. The lime helps bring out the tartness of the vinegar even more than when the shrub is alone with soda water. The blackberry adds nice sweetness and the rum is a great base for the drink, adding just a hint of smokiness. This would make a great porch sipper for the end of summer or perhaps for when you are cooped up in your kitchen on a cold October day, trying to remember that summer will one day return.

Enjoy your BB Gun!