Recipe: Spiced Cherry Vanilla Shrub Cocktail

Our favorite sommelier, Melissa Smith of Enotrias, designed some incredible shrub cocktails for our annual holiday party. The rave reviews inspired us to post her recipe for all to enjoy. She used our homemade raw red wine vinegar, which has a robust, almost meaty flavor. I recommend that anyone who drinks wine to keep their own little vinegar barrel but if it's just not in the cards for you, you could buy a raw red wine vinegar and use it instead.

Spiced Cherry Vanilla Shrub Cocktail

Ingredients:

1 cup sugar
3 star anise
1 cinnamon stick
24 oz frozen organic cherries
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 cup raw red wine vinegar
1 tsp high quality vanilla extract or 1/2 vanilla bean

Sparkling Water and option vodka for mixing

For the Shrub:

Add sugar, star anise and cinnamon stick to a small heavy pot with 1 cup water. Heat and stir until sugar is dissolved then cook on low for 5 minutes to infuse spices.

Remove spices and set aside for later use. Pureed sugar water with frozen cherries and strain out the solids, pressing them to extract the flavor.

Combine strained cherry liquid with remaining ingredients and reserved spices and store in a closed jar until ready for use. Letting the herbs infuse for a couple of days improves the flavor.

To Serve:

Mix 1 part shrub with 2 parts sparkling water. Add vodka or other unobtrusive alcohol as desired.