Vinegar-based shrubs a worthy complement to any cocktail

You might not enjoy slurping down a glass of vinegar, but throw some fruit and sugar in with the vinegar and the resulting shrub, as it’s called, makes any drink — alcoholic or not — a refreshing thirst-quencher.

Although vinegar-based syrups haven’t been common in the days since canning and refrigeration were invented, they’ve been making a comeback in the craft cocktail world as bartenders bring back pre-Prohibition recipes and ingredients. Writer Michael Dietsch has been right in the center of shrubs’ resurgence, and he’s written a book, “Shrubs: An Old-Fashioned Drink for Modern Times” (Countryman Press, $24.95), to help people make them in their own homes, much as they would have done at the height of shrubs’ popularity in the late 1700s through the 1800s.

Dietsch’s book includes a history of the shrub and nearly 50 shrub recipes, as well as a variety of cocktail recipes that feature them. Shrubs often add an extra element of flavor — they can just as easily be tart and savory as sweet, with many containing herbs and vegetables rather than, or in addition to, fruits — to cocktails like the Ultramodern, a twist on the Old-Fashioned.