Blood Orange Shrub Cocktail
Time: 5 minutes active time, 4-12 hours inactive
Skill level: Beginner with patience
Disclaimer: Must be 21+ for the cocktail portion. If you'd like to drink this as an NA beverage, just add 1 oz shrub to 8 oz club soda.
Ingredients
Blood Orange Shrub
- 4 blood oranges, zested or peeled into a bowl and sliced into quarters
- 3/4 cup sugar, separated
- 1/4 cup American Vinegar Works 19.53 Apple Cider Vinegar
- Pinch salt
Cocktail
- 1.5 oz Rye Whiskey (I like a high proof rye like Old Forester)
- 1 oz Blood Orange Shrub
- 5 dashes Peychaud's Bitters
- Club soda
- Amarena cherry and orange peel to garnish
Equipment
- Vegetable peeler or zester
- Fine mesh sieve
- Cocktail mixing glass
- Cocktail strainer
Instructions
Blood Orange Shrub
- In one container, add the zest from all the blood oranges and 1/4 cup of sugar. Massage the zest and sugar together until the sugar starts to feel wet. Leave in the container on the counter overnight.
- In another container, layer the orange quarters with the rest of the sugar and the salt, then add the vinegar. With your hands or a masher, press the oranges down so that the liquid is submerging all the oranges. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
- The next day, strain the orange and vinegar mixture through a fine mesh sieve making sure to press as much liquid as you can out of the pulp. Add the zest sugar to the pressed liquid, making sure to get as much liquid as you can out of the container. You can strain it again if you'd like to get the zest out, but I personally like it being in there. Bottle this and keep refrigerated until used. Shake well before using.
Cocktail
- In a mixing glass, add crushed ice, blood orange shrub, bitters, and rye whiskey. Stir until slightly diluted and the mixture is thoroughly chilled.
- Strain the mixture into a chilled 8 oz glass with ice, then top with club soda. Garnish with a cherry and blood orange peel, then serve.