Frequently asked Questions

Why Shrub?

Here’s how Andre Darlington summed it up for our hometown paper, Isthmus, in 2014.

Here how we answered in an interview with the The Reader (Willy Street Coop) May 2024.

“Over the past few years Madison has enjoyed a surge in artisanal beer breweries and liquor distilleries. There's been big growth in artisanal nonalcoholic beverages as well.

Mad Maiden Shrub is the newest beverage to hit the Madison market. Janet Chen started making a "shrub," or drinking vinegar, focusing on its health aspects. Chen sources apples for her base vinegar from Turkey Ridge Organic Orchard in Gays Mills and buys honey from Gentle Breeze in Mount Horeb.

Shrubs have been linked to the national cocktail boom. A syrupy mixture of macerated fruit and vinegar, shrubs were a kind of precursor to modern-day sodas and were popular in colonial times. Just add spirits and carbonated water, and you had a fine cocktail.

Today such drinking vinegars are still employed for their valuable digestive properties. It's thought that they help with losing weight and remedying fatigue, and they are consumed daily by many across Asia."