“We all know that booze can make us feel terrible, but it tastes so good,” laughs Brooks Reitz, the owner of Leon’s Oyster Shop in Charleston, South Carolina, and founder of mixer company Jack Rudy Cocktail Co. “Of all the non-alc offerings, verjus tastes most similar to something that has alcohol in it. Everything else feels a little engineered, lacks the complexity or oiliness that alcohol has. There’s a nutty character that almost reminds me of a sweet vermouth.”
Leon’s is featuring verjus on its drink menu in two ways: as a base with elderflower tonic, honey syrup, and club soda and as a mixer with bourbon and grenadine. Verjus’ ability to do both equally well is what makes it such a special ingredient. In fact, Huerta refers to the juice as the ultimate binder, saying it can marry two seemingly disparate ingredients and make an entire drink harmonious.
Take the Cape Fear Cooler, featured in her cocktail book Julep: Southern Cocktails Refashioned, where 10-year-old Laphroaig Scotch and watermelon puree, which “usually aren’t the best of friends, come together beautifully,” Huerta says. “Verjus is acidic without citrus and can open the door for a lot of things.”
Beyond its dynamic flavors, perhaps the most exciting thing about verjus is that it stems from a process winemakers are already doing. Fruit thinning occurs many times before harvest, essentially removing clusters from the canopy to increase fruit size. Those removed grapes are really high in acid, have a tiny bit of sugar accumulation, but not enough to ferment. “Take some of that fruit, press it, chill it way down, and, boom, you’ll have verjus,” Marinari says.
Of course, like all wines—whether you’re using pinot noir grapes in California or pinot meunier grapes in New York—the whole idea is that verjus still reflects the land on which it’s grown.
“It is really a beautiful grape juice, not cloyingly sweet or overly produced,” Roth adds. “When you taste verjus, you can really smell the harvest.”
Verjus Might Be Your Bartender’s Most Versatile Ingredient - Thrillist
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