London’s top shrub cocktails

With the fruit and vegetable growing period coming to a close – and autumn just around the corner – a fresh wave of seasonal sippers are set to hit bar menus in the weeks to come. Stir up some creativity with our pick of London’s top shrub cocktails.

‘Who Framed Roger Rabbit?’ by The Shrub and Shutter is one of our top London shrub cocktails

Green-fingered gardeners across the UK are set to harvest their crops and cook up a storm – but why should the surge of seasonal inspiration stop at dinner?

From celery droplets to green pea oil, fig-lime cordial to wood sorrel and grape shrub, there’s no limit to the cocktail potential of home-grown produce.

Click through the following pages to see our pick of the top 10 shrub cocktails in London. 

Bird is the Word – Jinjuu

Price: £10

Ingredients: 40ml Hwayo soju, 15ml Fair goji berry, 25ml spiced strawberry shrub*, 4 basil leaves, 10ml yuja juice, 15ml rapefruit juice

Method: Shaken and fine strain. Serve in bird shaped glass and garnish with mint sprig

*500 grams fresh strawberries, 5 tea spoons gochugaru, 200 grams caster sugar, 100ml apple cider vinegar

Cool as a Cucumber, Farmacy

Price: £10

Ingredients: 50ml gin, 25ml cucumber juice, 20ml lime juice, 15ml fresh apple juice, 3 basil leaves

Method: Crush 3 basil leaves and drop in the shaker. Add 50ml gin, 25ml of cucumber juice, 20ml of lime juice, and top with 15ml fresh apple juice. Shake well and double strain into a champagne coup. Garnish with a rolled strip of cucumber

Dirty Martini’s Blueberry and Basil Mojito – Dirty Martini

Price: £9.25

Ingredients: 50ml Havana Especial Rum,15ml Briottet Crème de Basil, 20ml homemade demerara gomme syrup, 10ml homemade blueberry shrub, 15ml fresh lime juice, 25ml blueberry juice, 6 fresh blueberries, 6 fresh basil leaves, 10ml Myers Rum Float

Garnish: 1 mint sprig wrapped in 1 basil leaf, & 2 blueberries on split bamboo & Myers Rum Float

Method: Add blueberries to base of Bach Highball glass, press lightly without breaking too much. Clap basil and add to glass, add remaining ingredients. Add crushed ice and churn, continue until level and crown with crushed ice. Garnish, add float and serve

Virginia Woolf – The Bloomsbury Club Bar

Price: £12

Ingredients: 45ml No. 3 Gin, 20ml fresh lemon juice, 15ml raspberry shrub, 5ml Cocchi Americano, 1 egg white

Method: Shake all the ingredients. Strain and sieve into a Coupette and garnish with a Maraschino cherry

Seven Springs – The American Bar at The Savoy

Price: £18

Ingredients: 50ml Ilegal Mezcal, 30ml coconut water, 25ml Savoy cordial, 3 basil leaves, 3 coriander leaves

Method: Blend and shake. Serve in Chantilly glass with 2 pieces of block ice. Garnish with Tom Olive

Who Framed Roger Rabbit? – The Shrub and Shutter

Price:

Ingredients: 40ml Warner & Edwards Harrington Dry Gin, 15ml Gentiane Chartreuse, 2 drops celery droplets, 15ml heritage carrot shrub*, 25ml lemon juice, 15ml sugar syrup, soda to top

Method: Add all the ingredients into a shaker excluding the soda, then pour over fresh ice. Top up with soda and garnish with pickled carrots and carrot top puree

The Great Russel – Dalloway Terrace

Price: £12

Ingredients: 25ml strawberry and black pepper shrub*, Perrier Jouët Champagne to top

Method: In a chilled Champagne flute add 25ml strawberry and black pepper shrub and top with Perrier Jouët. Gently stir to ensure the shrub is mixing with the Champagne. Garnish with a strawberry slice or dried strawberry rim

*black pepper gomme – 50g whole black pepper, 500ml homemade gomme; strawberry shrub – 1 part strawberry, 1 part caster sugar, 1 part white wine vinegar

Long Lane Sour – Ask For Janice

Price: £9

Ingredients: 40ml East London dry gin, 20ml wood sorrel and grape shrub, 20ml lemon juice, 20ml egg white

Method: Dry shake, shake and double strain

*30g wood sorrel, 700g grapes, 85ml white wine vinegar, 700g caster sugar

This drink is just one of a series of vegetable, herb and flower based cocktails that have been crafted to tie in with the bar’s upcoming Urban Edibles event, lead by urban forager Jason Irving.

108 Garden Cocktail – 108 Bar

Price: £10

Ingredients: 50ml Beefeater Gin, 150ml apple juice, 15ml elderflower cordial, 3 dashes cherry bitters, 5-6 mint leaves, 1 inch cucumber

Method: Muddle the mint leaves and the cucumber. Then add the Beefeater Gin, the apple juice, the elderflower cordial and the cherry bitters. Shake and fine strain into a sling glass filled with ice cube. Garnish with a slice of cucumber and a mint sprig

Basiq Beach – East London Liquor Company

Price: £9.50

Ingredients: 50ml Premium Batch No.2 Gin, 10ml agave syrup, 3 dashes bergamot bitters, rose lemonade

Method: Build in the glass with ice and top with the lemonade. Garnish with edible flowers

Bonsai Butterfly – Cocktail Trading Company Brick Lane

Price: £9

Ingredients: 2 parts Jasmine Martin Millers Gin, 2 parts St. Germain, 1 part fig-lime cordial, 1 spash Champagne

Method: Combine all ingredients in finger bowl over ice. Consume in tranquility