Lemon Shrub Spritz mocktail recipe
A cloudy, sharply citrus spritz built from a chilled lemon and apple-cider-vinegar shrub.
Method: Build · Glass: Stemmed wine glass · Time: 15 minutes plus chilling · Difficulty: Intermediate
Ingredients
- 1 oz chilled lemon apple-cider-vinegar shrub
- ¼ oz simple syrup
- ¼ oz fresh lemon juice
- 4 oz chilled sparkling water
How to make it
- For the shrub, rub lemon zest into sugar, add lemon juice and apple cider vinegar, then stir until the sugar dissolves.
- Refrigerate the shrub until cold before using it in a drink.
- Fill a stemmed wine glass with ice and add chilled shrub, syrup and lemon juice.
- Top with cold sparkling water, lift once and garnish with lemon.
Garnish
A lemon wheel and expressed lemon peel
Why this balance works
A shrub has two kinds of sharpness: fresh lemon and vinegar. The small pour of simple syrup is there to join them, not make a lemonade. Start with a cold shrub; room-temperature vinegar feels louder and melts ice before the soda has a chance to work. The finished drink should be tart and slightly cloudy, with lemon oil at the nose and a dry finish after the bubbles fade.
Technique to keep
Make the lemon shrub as a cold concentrate and chill it before adding carbonation. Rubbing zest into sugar pulls out aromatic oils without cooking them, while apple cider vinegar adds a long, savoury tartness. Once the base is cold, build it directly over ice and pour soda last. Warm concentrate causes fast melt and rapid bubble loss; a cold base preserves the bright, prickly texture that makes a shrub spritz work.
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