How To Drink With Verjuice
by Nicola Lando
Verjuice, or verjus, is an ancient ingredient that’s seeing a revival in modern kitchens. It’s the pressed juice of unripe and unfermented grapes. Verjuice has a sharp, fruity flavour with a gentle acidity that makes it a popular substitute for vinegar or lemon juice in cooking. But verjuice isn’t just amazing with food – it’s fantastic in drinks, too!
The famous Australian cook and restaurateur, Maggie Beer, is the first person to ever produce verjuice commercially. It’s thanks to her that this largely forgotten ingredient is back in the spotlight. These are just a few of the ways she recommends enjoying verjuice as a drink.
Straight Up
Maggie Beer’s verjuice is mildly sweet and fruity with a soft acidity and hints of florals. Maggie herself often enjoys a glass of verjuice poured simply over ice with a little fresh mint. On a hot and humid day, there are few things more refreshing.
Sparkling
For another refreshing drink, dilute Maggie Beer’s verjuice to taste with chilled sparkling water or soda water. Serve in a tumbler over ice with fresh lime and mint, or pour into a champagne flute for some non-alcoholic bubbly at parties. Cheers!
G, T & V
Put a Maggie Beer twist on your gin & tonic by adding a dash of verjuice. It does wonders to lift the flavours in the gin, and can even help to balance out the bitterness in an especially bitter tonic.
Verjuice Vodka Martini
If you’re looking for new ways to enjoy this classic cocktail, replace the vermouth in a Martini with verjuice. Shake 60ml of vodka and 15ml of Maggie Beer’s verjuice in a shaker half–filled with ice. Strain into a martini glass and garnish with a twist and/or bruised green olive. Serve immediately.
More Ideas for Verjuice Drinks
Buy Maggie Beer's Verjuice here.
For even more information on verjuice and how to use it, read our dedicated verjuice article.
About the author
Nicola Lando is the co-founder and CEO of Sous Chef, where she has spent more than a decade sourcing, tasting and selecting specialist ingredients, cookware and tableware from producers around the world.
She trained at Leiths and later completed a stage at a Michelin-starred London restaurant, experiences that helped shape Sous Chef’s original mission: to give home cooks access to the same exceptional ingredients used by professional chefs.
Today, Nicola leads much of Sous Chef’s product sourcing and ingredient selection, working directly with producers and travelling internationally to food fairs, farms, mills and manufacturers. She tastes thousands of products each year and has built deep expertise across storecupboard ingredients, olive oil, condiments, spices, preserved foods and specialist cooking ingredients.
She holds an olive oil sommelier certification from ESAO in Spain, Imperial Executive Education’s Certificate in Nutrition for Health: Evidence-Based Tools and Strategies certificate; as well as studying Food Safety and Control at University of Greenwich.
Nicola also writes recipes and ingredient guides for Sous Chef, combining practical cooking experience with first-hand knowledge from producers, suppliers and specialist food makers. Her work focuses on helping cooks understand how to choose better ingredients, use them well, and get more flavour from their cooking.
