A Pimm's Strawberry Shrub: Two Worlds Collided

I've recently discovered the delight of a shrub.  Not the bushy kind.  Oh, no.  No, the alcoholic kind.

Once again, my educator has been Bon Appétit with their rather practical article for the dog days of summer.  I was drawn to the shrub recipe because I had a pound of organic strawberries dangerously close to moving from glorious to gross, so before you could say "shrub, spritzes, and swizzles" ten times fast, I had this going on the stove:

A little bit of water, a little bit of sugar, and that pound of strawberries simmering away.  It wasn't 15 minutes later that I had this:

Can't you just smell it? Oh, if you have never cooked strawberries, you must.  They smell fake, they smell so good.  (I tried grilling them the other night.  Chopped them up and put them on vanilla gelato.... Not bad. Smoky strawberries are quite interesting!)

These berries were cooled, strained, and then mixed with a bit of vinegar.  The result? A shrub, a.k.a. an elixir to be blended into an intoxicating beverage.

The first concoction I made with my shrub was a blend of the shrub (duh), citron vodka, and club soda.  Refreshing.  Dangerously so.  And just so damn pretty.

Last night I decided to play, and so I muddled a slice of lemon with an ounce of shrub in the bottom of a glass, added an ounce of Pimm's, threw in some ice cubes, then topped it with about 4 oz. of club soda (you could do more or less, depending on how strong you want your drink) and stirred until well chilled.  The result?

A Pimm's Shrub, at your service.  Tastes like bubbly flavored tea.

(Now I've got "Two Worlds Collide" by INXS playing in my head...)