Rum Shrub

Recommended The Bar-Tender's Guide by Jerry Thomas (1862, p.68) — Jerry Thomas 1862

1. Combine the orange juice, sugar, and rum in a cask.
2. Leave the mixture for six weeks.
3. Bottle or draw off for use when ready.

Nose

Orange and rum sweetness define the nose.

Palate

It drinks broad, citrusy, and spirit-forward, with storage time helping the components settle into a cordial-like whole.

Finish

The finish is warm, orange-led, and smooth.

Summary

A simple but important rum shrub that shows long-rested batching as part of the mixed-drink tradition.

Rum Shrub is historically useful because it records cask-resting as part of preparation rather than as an accident of storage. It suggests a line from domestic and colonial fruit-spirit preserves toward more intentional batched bar ingredients.

Time is an ingredient here. The six-week rest is what turns a raw mixture into a finished shrub.

Rum Shrub is almost stark in its simplicity, which makes it a helpful contrast with the more elaborate English Rum Shrub that follows.

Recommended How to Mix Drinks; or, The Bon-Vivant's Companion by Jerry Thomas (1876, p.70) — Jerry Thomas 1876

1. Combine the orange juice, sugar, and rum in a cask.
2. Leave the mixture for six weeks.
3. Bottle or draw off for use when ready.

Nose

Orange and rum sweetness define the nose.

Palate

It drinks broad, citrusy, and spirit-forward, with storage time helping the components settle into a cordial-like whole.

Finish

The finish is warm, orange-led, and smooth.

Summary

A simple but important rum shrub that shows long-rested batching as part of the mixed-drink tradition.

Rum Shrub is historically useful because it records cask-resting as part of preparation rather than as an accident of storage. It suggests a line from domestic and colonial fruit-spirit preserves toward more intentional batched bar ingredients.

Time is an ingredient here. The six-week rest is what turns a raw mixture into a finished shrub.

Rum Shrub is almost stark in its simplicity, which makes it a helpful contrast with the more elaborate English Rum Shrub that follows.

Bartenders' Guide: How to Mix Drinks by Wehman Bros. (1912, p.64) — To Make Nearly Five Gallons (Wehman Bros. 1912)

1. Mix everything except the milk and let stand closely covered overnight, boil the milk and cool it, add it to the mixture, filter through flannel lined with blotting paper, bottle, and cork immediately.

The Artistry of Mixing Drinks by Frank Meier (1936, p.87)

1. Combine the rum, currant juice, and dissolved sugar in a large covered container, let stand for a week or more, mix well, strain through muslin, and bottle.

Ice: Ice