Derek Brown photograph by Jim Webb
in New Orleans at the new cocktail bar
Bellocq, a handful of variations were
available at any one time; and in the
Denver area at Phat Thai, chef Mark
Fisher merged the Shrub idea with
Southeast Asian influences in his Blue-
berry Lemonade (blueberry vinegar,
muddled lemons and vodka) and Black-
berry Bramble (blackberry vinegar and
honey-infused bourbon).
“
The one I see now everywhere is
the Shrub,” says Derek Brown of Wash-
ington, DC’s The Passenger. “Simply a
means of preserving fruit, it has become
a standard technique/ingredient of ‘new
classics,’” he says. Brown himself pro-
vides a rotating list of different Shrub
variants throughout the year, including
an early autumn Celery Shrub recipe
that really pleased him.
Like Cobblers (spirit, citrus and
fruit) and Punches, Shrubs provide
creative bartenders a basic framework
around which to build their own par-
ticular flavor palate with favorite
ingredients and serving styles. With
them, guests basically know what to
expect—if you don’t like fresh fruit
or the tang of vinegar in your drinks,
you’ll never order a Shrub or Cobbler
twice—but they anticipate the person-
al twist a bar provides.
In some ways, these three drink
styles are perfect examples of the new
classic cocktail—an antique drinking
form refurbished by the cocktail renais-
sance and then tweaked with contem-
porary, perhaps seasonal, ingredients.
No more, at least for the short term, do
either customers or drink makers seem
much interested in cookie-cutter bever-
ages made exactly the same as at the bar
down the road.
Mix & Match
“
The modern classics today are things
like the Negroni and the Lemon Drop,
but they definitely are being made with
a twist to them, to customize them for
whatever restaurant they are served in,”
says Kathy Casey, culinary and cocktail
consultant at Liquid Kitchen.
Taking classic drinks and swapping
out secondary ingredients with inspired
substitutions is common in both cock-
tail-centric bars and in restaurants where
the drink menu needs to fit the concept.
For instance, Casey consulted with two
Seattle-area Volterra restaurants where
she installed on the menu three different
Manhattan recipes; one classic and the
others made with seasonal or unexpect-
ed ingredients. Volterra’s Nocciola Man-
hattan is made with Woodford Reserve
Bourbon, sweet vermouth, Frangelico,
vermouth-plumped Bing cherries and
toasted hazelnut.
In another, Casey replaced orange
liqueur in the traditional Margarita rec-
ipe with the Italian bitter Cocchi Baro-
lo Chinato, resulting in a drink with
more complex layers of flavor. “Some
of these more interesting products, es-
pecially Italian liqueurs, add a unique
twist while keeping the cocktail classic
in approach,” she says.
Classics like Old-Fashioneds or
Collinses are perfect fits for building
seasonally-based offerings, with peaches,
cherries and other tree fruits adding a
signature touch required on many drinks
menus, she says.
From Bitter(s) to Fresh
Introducing a bitter quality to estab-
lished classics works for others as well;
in DC, Brown’s customers are avid for a
Daiquiri twist he serves called The Get-
away (Cruzan Black Strap Rum, Cynar,
lemon, simple syrup). While bitters—
both potable and aromatic—were un-
til recently used sparingly in cocktails,
bartenders have embraced both variet-
ies for their depth of flavor and creative
possibilities, and they are enjoying an
The Getaway by Derek Brown of Washington, DC’s The Passenger
Kathy Casey, culinary and cocktail
consultant at Liquid Kitchen