The growth in alcohol-free drinking has mostly been driven by 0% versions of alcoholic drinks, such as dealcoholised wine or non-alcoholic beer. But now, a growing number of drinks are being created that have no direct alcoholic equivalent.
Tea is a common base (think kombucha or sparkling teas), but so, too, are shrubs. Also known as switchels, shrubs might seem to be a new phenomenon, but in fact they have a history that goes back centuries.
Shrubs are based on vinegar – usually apple cider vinegar – which sounds like an unpromising starting point for a drink, but actually has several advantages. For starters, drinks without alcohol (or man-made preservatives) eventually go off, but vinegar is a natural preservative. It’s also a very good transporter of flavour, which, again, is a big advantage when there’s no alcohol to do that particular job.
‘Alcohol brings so much to the table – body, mouthfeel and texture,’ says Sam Paget Steavenson at non-alcoholic drinks company Botivo (£27.50/50cl botivodrinks.com, Waitrose). ‘It is also an incredible extractor of flavour and the ultimate preservative. I needed a base that served the same purpose.’
Sustainable serves
Historically, shrubs were made by macerating fruit, sugar, even vegetables in apple cider vinegar to form a concentrated, highly flavoured and very stable syrup solution. They were a way of using up leftover ingredients – the original sustainable adult soft drink – at a time when there was no refrigeration to keep things fresh.
Now, drinks producers are taking the basic shrub premise and playing with it to create all manner of drinks. Botivo uses wild flower honey plus fresh and dried botanicals to create a unique herbal aperitif with serious depth, complexity and balance.
Wine writer Matthew Jukes uses fruit, herbs and vegetables in a slow cold-extraction process to create his Cordialities (£3-£5/250ml can jukescordialities.com), a range of still and sparkling drinks with bright flavours, a savoury mid-palate and bustling acidity. Though they aren’t wine, they’re absolutely doing the same job.
In Suffolk, Henry Chevallier Guild of the Aspall cyder- and vinegar-making dynasty uses just cider vinegar, a concentrate made from bittersweet cider apples and cardamom extract to make a joyfully approachable shrub under the brand name Nonsuch (see ‘One to try’, below). Shake 25ml in a sour with 50ml of apple juice and 25ml of egg white and people don’t even realise it’s alcohol-free, Chevalier Guild says.
‘You know you’ve won people over when they say, “I love that, but I can’t have any more because I’m driving,”’ he says with a laugh.
One to try
Nonsuch Bittersweet Apple & Cardamom Shrub
Intense flavours of honey, citrus and apple compote burst onto the palate in a plush rolling wave. Natural fruit sweetness is balanced by the shiny zip of the vinegar and bright pinpoints of cardamom. Hugely moreish and very concentrated, so if drinking it long, mix it 1:8 with soda. Alcohol 0%
Related articles
- Is January still dry? Eliza Dumais on an alcohol-free month
- Understanding soju: The world’s best-selling spirit and its craft evolution
- The age of age: Hyper-aged whiskies make their mark