February Drink of the Month - Sober Curious

For any loyal readers who thought I may have fallen off the edge of the Earth... you made a reasonable assumption, based on my lack of posting! My radio silence for the past few month is easy to explain, however: Ann and I are expecting baby #2 in July, so I've lost my #1 drinking buddy and taste tester. Who knows what this means for my blog output going forward (child #1 put me several months behind last time), but I will continue to post as much as I'm able!

In order to allow Ann to still join in on the fun, my cocktail club spent the month of February playing with shrubs and other low/no ABV options. According to the various publications that I read, the "sober curious" movement is growing. One way to get interesting flavors without using alcohol is with shrubs, sometimes know as "drinking vinegars." There is also a whole range of new "alcohol substitutes" available on the market, the granddaddy of which is Seedlip. For this month's concoction, we combined both of these alcohol-free options to make a pretty tasty little drink that even the pregnant ladies can get behind. This is definitely a case of a drink that is "greater than the sum of its parts." One of our club members described my bottle of Seelip Grove as "herbal hint water," but when combined with the kiwi shrub, it made something magical (we tried swapping Seedlip for gin later, and somehow the "herbal hint water" version was better!).

Ingredients: 2 oz Seedlip Grove, 3 oz kiwi ginger shrub*, 0.5 oz lime juice, 3 dash citrus bitters

Preparation: Combine seeldip, shrub, lime juice, and bitters in a boston shaker. Shake over ice, and strain into a chilled coupe. Garnish with a kiwi wheel.

Notes: *To make the kiwi-ginger shrub, combine 3 cups sugar, 3 cups cold water, 2 tsp ground ginger, 0.75 cups white wine vinegar, and 0.75 cups white wine. Bring to a boil, and remove from heat. Add the fruit of 6-8 kiwi, and allow to cool. Blend to incorporate ingredients, and then strain into a sterile container.