Best of Cleveland 2016: Shrubs

If you’re a fan of kombucha, you’ll want to give shrubs — an old-fashioned way of preserving produce by bottling fruits and vegetables with vinegar — a shake during your next happy hour. The cocktail mixer inspired Molly Smith to launch Molly’s Crafted last year after she saw shrubs making a comeback in cities such as Chicago and New York. Her potent apple ginger shrub ($15) starts with apples from Patterson Fruit Farm in Chesterland, which are cooked and pureed with plenty of ginger. Smith then adds the mixture to sugar and apple cider vinegar to create her spicy concoction. To craft your own drinks at home, Smith recommends pairing her signature shrubs with bourbon or vodka for a bold, fruit-infused Moscow mule (teetotalers can use it to make a zesty salad dressing). “It will take you all the way through winter,” she explains. “You can drink it warm or cold.” drinkmollyscrafted.com