Bee’s Shrub

This variation on a classic Bee’s Knees was the first cocktail that came to mind when I first tasted the Flathead Cherry Shrub from Shivelight. The profile of the shrub is really great with a base of apple cider vinegar (of course) which really comes through but it also contains honey and the light note of honey is what inspired this cocktail.

The Shivelight company is very down to earth like us and all of their products are made by finding the best ingredients and putting them together in their shrubs with as little interference as possible. The company’s personality represents its name really well, which comes from the old English text and means “rays of sunshine that pierce the forest canopy”, how amazing is that? They are doing a great job of representing Montana by staying true to these foundations by using raw, artisanal products that are all locally sourced.

Even the Flathead Cherry Shrub gets its name from an area in Western Montana known as Flathead Lake where the cherries are grown along the shores by a small community. The shrub uses these famous cherries and macerates them with a little Montana knapweed honey to make a syrup that is then cut with raw apple cider vinegar and just a touch of water. Once these four ingredients come together there is nothing else added and it is bottled as is to bring you the rawest Montana flavors.

I wanted to take the little honey flavor and bring it right to the front of this cocktail with the cherry falling just a little behind as a great supporting characteristic. Building a Bee’s Knees with a delicious botanical gin allowed me to showcase the cherry from the shrub but also to magnify the honey notes. A little citrus and thyme bought everything back down to earth and balanced this cocktail to perfection.