Shrub Cocktails Unique to Lumia- Rosehip Cream Fizz

Okay. So this is a blog entry where I am supposed to write on my favourite Shrub Cocktail unique to Lumia at the Crown Hotel in Melbourne despite not having tried any of the Shrub Cocktails. This will be a test for my imagination to see which imaginary taste will be my favourite!

So what is a Shrub Cocktail? From the website it says that:

Devised in the late 18th Century, Shrub was a technique to preserve summer berries and fruits for consumption all year round. By adding sugar and vinegar, the fruits were reduced down to a dense liquid known as Shrub. The process not only ensured the fruits' preservation, but compounded the sweet and sour flavours, producing phenomenal taste. Now, in the 21st Century, Lumia has taken Shrub and mixed it with modern spirits to produce cocktails that are, well, a little bit glamourous.

Sounds like a mix of the old and new, and it definitely sounds yummy! Lumia has 10 Shrub Cocktails on its Cocktail selection and they are priced at AUD$19.50 each. The flavours are:

Apple Daisy
Russian Standard Vodka, shaken with cloudy apple juice, lemon juice, dandelion and apple shrub and floated in dry cider.

Coconut Husk Punch
Appleton Golden Rum shaken with coconut syrup, ginger shrub, lime and pineapple juice and finished with a couple of dashes of bitters.

White Chocolate Martini
Russian Standard Vodka shaken with pistachio shrub, white cacao and lemon juice, then topped with bitters and ginger beer.

Banana Sherbet Smack
Russian Standard Vodka shaken with banana Demerara shrub, lemon juice, lemon curd and banana skin sherbet.

Cherry Martini
Plymouth Gin shaken with juniper and cherry shrub, sweet vermouth and topped with Angostura Bitters.

Rosehip Cream Fizz
Plymouth Gin shaken with pink grapefruit juice, rose shrub, milk, cream, lemon and lime juice, and then filled with grapefruit soda.

Watermelon Sherbet Martini
Russian Standard Vodka shaken with watermelon oleo saccharum, pomegranate, lime sugar, fresh watermelon finished with a watermelon wedge.

White Peach Martini
Russian Standard Vodka shaken with Lemon Oleo Saccharum, vanilla and peach syrup, topped off with peach liqueur and cream.

Strawberry Shiraz Cobbler
Makers Mark shaken with orange chunks, red wine ‘burnt orange and pink peppercorn shrub’ and strawberry liqueur.

Green Pear Reviver
José Cuervo Gold Tequila shaken with Lemon Oleo Saccharum, orange, lemon and pear chunks, topped with fennel sugar syrup, served tall with a cinnamon sugar rim.

All of them sounds delicious but after reading the list, I knew what would be my favourite: Rosehip Cream Fizz! I love Rose anything- macarons, desserts, wines and liquers etc. Sence has one of my favourite wines and liquers of all time! So this is a no brainer that I would choose Rosehip Cream Fizz. I also have a soft spot for pink grapefruit juice and grapefruit soda. While I am not a fan of the actual grapefruit, I love grapefruit products. Grapefruit juice and soda just have the extra pizzazz about it, that little bit more complexity of citrus acidity than the usual orange or lemon. Plymouth gin gives it the slight sweetness with a hit of alcohol goodness. The juniper and lemony notes from the Plymouth Gin harmonizes with the citrus flavour in this cocktail. I can just imagine this to be a bit floral yet fruity, milky cream and yet refreshing from the bubbles in the soda and the acidity from the pink grapefruit juice. All washed down with a hit of smooth concentrated Plymouth Gin. I also like to think that it will take on a pink pastel colour-- pink from the rose and pastel from the milk and cream. Ahhhh... Can't wait to try it already!

Which is your favourite? Have you tried it? What do you think? Let me know! :)