Recently in Bitters Category

Even though Amaro may sound like a new, unified, North American currency, it actually means bitter in Italian. It’s also a class of liqueurs referred to as stomach bitters, and not surprisingly they are used to aid digestion or to settle an upset stomach, unlike aromatic bitters which add flavour and aroma to drinks. These types of medicinal spirits have been popular in Europe for a long time. Italy seems to be fond of amaro’s and has a significant number of brands. In North America, you generally won’t find a lot of amaro’s behind the bar, but you may find Jagermiester on tap, but that’s more of a school boy manhood test. Getting people to enjoy bitters is a bit difficult, but once you’ve got the hang-of-it, you can sit back, relax and enjoy.

As the cocktail renaissance marches forward there is an associated increased interest in Bitters and the recipes on how to make them. Many of the top bartenders / mixologists are making their own, or are trying to recreate classics such as Boker’s and Abbott’s Bitters, with varying degree’s of success. I have had a bitters project on the back burner for a while and have yet to create anything worthy of publication, but eventually something will be produced and reported on. Until then, I’ve compiled a list of recipes for 13 types of bitters. The recipes are as old as 1861 and as new as 2007 and have been picked from many of the cocktail enthusiast websites. Use as a reference or explore it out of curiosity.

The night before I departed for New Orleans I was at my parent's place hanging out. I just happened to be sitting beside a bookshelf and when I glanced over I noticed an old book called Recipes and Reminiscences of New Orleans (1971). Well it seemed to be a sign so I open the book and started browsing the recipes inside. One section of the book was dedicated to drinks of New Orleans and within the pages I came across the Douce Amere (Bitter Sweet) bitters recipe. I did a quick search on the Internet and only found references to a perfume, but nothing on this drink. It seemed like something that should be shared.

So it is another Mixology Monday and I have yet to miss one, so it’s time to put down my website design tools and open the bar for a quick drink. This months topic is bitters, the often misunderstood component in a cocktail. Many people have an apprehension to bitterness because they may have bad memories from childhood or are just pixie stick addicts. But the reality is that bitterness can be rather pleasant if done right. For example a good Manhattan requires the bitters to make the drink interesting. A Champagne Cocktail uses bitters to make a great aperitif. Bitters also have health properties, such as stimulating gastric juices to help digestion. So for this Mixology Monday, I took out five bitters (Angostura, Peychaud, Regans’, Underberg and Drinkboys bitters) and compared them. Here’s what I discovered.

It’s another Mixology Monday and usually I’m on the ball and have my write up done a day or two before hand. Well not today, I’ve got more things to do than a corporate executives henchman. But, never one to miss making a drink and writing about it, here I am. The idea of the aperitif topic is a good one, but one that I’m unprepared for. I do have lots of bitters and liqueurs that qualify as aperitifs, but I usually like to do something unique. As I sat and contemplated what to write about I decided to create the ultimate aperitif using a handful of aperitifs in my liquor cabinet. This is effectively the “hail Mary” shot when you are running out of time. The lynch pin of this “mixture” will be Unicum bitters. If you don’t know too much about Unicum, I’ll provide a little background. This could be good, this could be bad.

Well the components for making my own bitters are slowly arriving at the doorstep. The buchner funnel arrived a few weeks ago and this is obviously to filter the bitters. Because it uses a vacuum to pull the liquid through a very tight filter, this will help with product stability and prevent “drop out” in the future. The herbs have arrived and to start I will be working with about 20 herbs and spices. Some of the herbs include gentian, burdock and milk thistle. But I’ve also located some “secret” herbs, now I sound like a KFC restaurant. The reality is that I want to try the herbs first to see how they work out. I’ll be using a number of spices including cinnamon and cardamon. And finally to make this product unique, instead of being orange or peach bitters, they will be . . . .

Well last night was a good night at the bar. I had some guests from out of town, unfortunately I didn’t get their names, but we had a good discussion on cocktails, some history, bitters, Manhattans and a beer called Waterloo Dark. A question was asked for a good recipe for a Manhattan, and I said I would post the one I use here. Also, it seems everyone is making their own bitters. Jamie Boudreau, who writes at Spirits & Cocktails has created his own house bitters. Gary Regan, has his own bitters and Robert Hess (aka “Drinkboy) has his own bitters and I’m sure Ted Haigh (aka “Dr. Cocktail) and Dale DeGroff have their own secret blends too. That means I should create my own bitters. Why? Just because I can.

Bitters have been popular in Europe for hundreds of years, but in North America, they haven’t quite stayed as popular since the introduction of refined sugar. However, there seems to be a rekindled interest in bitter liqueurs and cocktail bitters. This could partially be caused by the Jagermeister shot phenomenon. Or, it could be that people just get bored and need to try new things. Either way, bitters are on a small, but growing, come back. Currently there are a number of cocktail bitters on the market including Peychaud, Angostura and Fee’s bitters. Gary Regan has also recently formulated and release, for sale, his orange bitters. Jerry Thomas had his own house bitters too, and I’ll explore a little about bitters in this article.