Cocktails Spiked With Vinegar!?

If a cocktail spiked with vinegar sounds disgusting, think again. Bartenders are taking this mixing trend to concoct tart sips worthy of your bar tab.

Tart and sour drinks are at the peak of their 15 minutes right now. Drinking vinegars, also known as shrubs, are sweetened, vinegar-based syrups, and making them into a cocktail is an old fashioned recipe on the up-and-up. They were made popular in 15^th-century England as a mix of vinegar, fruit and sugar. Once the acid from the vinegar diminishes, you have a tangy syrup that sets the creative spark off for any fun-loving mixologist.

The West Coast of the United States is seeing a surge of shrubs gracing their menus, specifically in Seattle, where bars like BOKA at Hotel 1000 have a selection of house-made shrubs.

You can also find these cocktails on the menus of hip speakeasies in major cities like New York City. Renowned Thai restaurant Pok Pok, which also has branches in Portland and Los Angeles, offers their own Som drinking vinegar, as well as house cocktails like the Hunny — fresh-squeezed grapefruit juice with lime, Som honey drinking vinegar and tequila.