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www.gourmetnews.com 4 Oli e Aceti • Gourmet News www.gourmetnews.com KIMBERLY OSER Publisher JULES DENTON-CARD Senior Associate Publisher LORRIE BAUMANN Editorial Director JEANIE CATRON Associate Editor YASMINE BROWN Art Director JONATHAN SCHIEFFER Graphic Designer CAITLYN MCGRATH SUSAN STEIN Customer Service Managers ANTHONY SOCCI Associate Publisher TARA NEAL Circulation Director JAMIE GREEN Circulation Manager Oli e Aceti is a product of Gourmet News, is published by Oser Communications Group ©Copyright 2018. All rights reserved. Reproduction, in whole or in part, without written permission of the publisher, is expressly prohibited. Executive and editorial offices located at: 1877 N. Kolb Road • Tucson, AZ 85715 T 520.721.1300 • F 520.721.6300 www.oser.com LEE M. OSER JR. Founder OSER COMMUNICATIONS GROUP G OURMET N EWS A G U I D E T O O I L S & V I N E G A R S A ceti O li A Modern Twist on an Antique Beverage Recipe BY LORRIE BAUMANN Element Shrub is a line of vinegar-based beverages that got started as an outgrowth of a backyard foraging project in Cam- bridge, Massachusetts. "My wife, Angela, and I were living in Cambridge and had gotten involved in a group that foraged fruit from backyards – it was a fun way to get involved in the community," said Ele- ment Shrub Founder Charlie Berkinshaw. "We'd visit people who owned fruit trees and offer a share of the profit from what- ever we were able to make from it." Berkinshaw and his friends learned how to make jams, pickles, hard cider – any- thing they could think of that would pre- serve whatever fruit they were able to glean from their neighbors' trees. Eventu- ally, the Berkinshaws stumbled across colonial-era recipes for shrubs. "We started experimenting, making them mostly be- cause we'd already made so many jams and jellies and wanted something different," Berkinshaw said. At the time, Angela was pregnant, and although the two liked to entertain, her pregnancy got in the way of enjoy- ing the cocktails they'd been accus- tomed to serving, so they looked to their shrubs to create a beverage that felt like a cocktail but didn't contain the alco- hol. "We started mixing shrubs with seltzer water," Berkin- shaw said. "Vinegar added a zing, and the herbs and spices we were using added an interesting complexity." From the beginning, the couple were trying for unique flavor profiles in the shrubs they were creating – they wanted something that would stand on its own; that wasn't necessarily intended to be mixed with spirits to make a cocktail. They came up with flavors like Pineapple Turmeric, Honeydew Jalapeño, Blood Or- ange Saffron with Carrots and Ginger and others. "Most other shrub companies are started by bartenders," Berkinshaw said. "A lot of shrubs we found were very one- note because they were trying to make, for instance, a ginger shrub that would work in a variety of cocktails." After their baby, Lina, was born, the family moved to Arlington, Virginia, in the summer of 2014 to be closer to their ex- tended family. Charlie had already left his job in Cambridge to care for the baby and continue the experiments with shrubs. They launched Element Shrub with a line of four shrub concentrates and continued building the brand by extending the con- centrates line until about a year and a half ago when they launched the ready-to- drink version they call Element Shrub & Club – the "Club" is a reference to the club soda sparkle of the beverage. "Back in 2013, 2014, I didn't think the market was ready for ready-to-drink, but with the rise of kombucha and sour beers, maybe the world is ready for it now," Berkinshaw said. This year has brought critical recogni- tion to Element Shrub with a Good Food Award for Chai Pear and a Good Food Finalist award for Blue- berry Rosemary. In the Berkin- shaws' first entry into the Spe- cialty Food Asso- ciation's sofi Award contest, Honey Jalapeño Shrub & Club brought home a sofi. Element Shrub concentrates are sold in 8-ounce bottles that make 16 servings and retail for $11.99. The Element Shrub & Club ready-to-drink beverage is sold in 8.45-ounce (250 ml) bottles that retail for $1.99. The Shrub & Club line is also of- fered in 4-pack carriers that retail for $8.99. Distribution is regional to the East Coast, with production capacity slated to expand for national distribution by late 2019. For more information, visit www .elementshrub.com or @elementshrub on Instagram. GN

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