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Food & Drink: Grange Kitchen and Bar offers local libations with community supported cocktails program

By Kim Bayer AnnArbor.com Freelance Journalist

Posted on Tue, Jul 5, 2011 : 7:54 a.m.

The "GKB" Manhattan with a house-brandied fresh cherry

Contributor | Kim Bayer

One of the great things about having a CSA farm share is that you get to eat with the seasons. But with Grange Kitchen and Bar's "CSC" program, you can also drink with the seasons and help preserve the taste of summer in your glass.

You've heard of the CSA farm share options in our area, where you pay up front to get a weekly box of fresh produce? Well, some people would rather have a Sazerac than a salad. So Grange Kitchen and Bar has just announced their "CSC" — Community Supported Cocktails —program.

With Community Supported Cocktails, you pay up front to help procure fresh fruit and produce from local farms to enjoy later in your drinks. For your contribution to the house-brandied cherries and pickled garlic scapes, you get a discount. Grange Kitchen and Bar (GKB) describes what they're trying out:

"The short growing season presents a challenge to a restaurant committed to purchasing fresh product from all local sources. A year’s worth of the sour cherries to brandy for our GKB Manhattan must be purchased in a short 3 week growing season. This comes at a great additional cost to the restaurant and also involves additional labor hours, as thousands of cherries have to be washed, pitted, and brandied in this same short time period. And that’s just the cherries. As a member of the Grange Kitchen & Bar CSC, you’ll be helping us keep the fresh juices, muddled fresh herbs, fruit purees, and pickled vegetables the stars of Grange’s specialty cocktails."

If their plans for Community Supported Cocktails don't grab you, you may prefer a more DIY approach — perhaps learning to make your own Shrub Syrups from fresh fruit.

Or maybe what you need is a class from one of Ann Arbor's most knowledgeable cocktail mavens. Tammy Coxen will be teaching a hands-on class on summer cocktails featuring margaritas and mojitos coming up on July 21.