Exploring the World One Drink at a Time since 2005
Back in 2009, I stumbled upon a bitters recipe with two Abbott signatories on the document. Since Abbott’s was one of the most popular bitters before prohibition, it required further investigation. And that led me to present all this research at Tales of the Cocktail 2016. And now here it is for you. My original goal was to recreate the bitters […]
Can you make non-alcoholic aromatic bitters? Yes you can with this relatively easy recipe.
Once a proprietary “medicine” once sold as “Seabury’s Union Bitters” that would be found “grateful and comforting” in all cases where manhood needs to be restored, or where men have lost their self-respect and interest in each other’s welfare. This is pretty typical marketing for these types of “medicine” in the 1800s. Some historical documents claim it was to be […]
Possibly of Canadian origin from the 1875 to 1885 time period. [popup_anything id=”10231″] Royal Bitters Recipe: Fennel 6 oz Coriander 6 oz Cloves 6 oz Cassia Cinnamon 6 oz Bitter Orange Peel 1¼ lbs Lemon Peel 1¼ lbs Calisaya Bark 1½ lbs Peppermint Leaves 2 lbs Balm Leaves 2½ lbs Instructions To make Ivan Bitters take 60 ml (2 oz) of […]
A Latvian specialty bitter / liqueur. It is considered to be a good cold remedy and is used to treat digestive problems. Riga Balsam Recipe: Oil of Mustard Seed 1 tsp Oil of Thyme, red 2 oz Oil of Marjoram 1 oz Oil of Lovage 2 oz Lemon Oil 2 oz Oil of Elecampane 8 oz Saffron Tincture 2 oz Instructions Take 1 […]
A bitters recipe that currently doesn’t have a detailed history. Hunt Bitters Recipe: Mace 4 oz Cinnamon 4 oz Tonka Bean 8 oz Calamus Root 8 oz Star Anise 1 lb Peppermint Leaves 7½ lbs Instructions To make the Hartz Aromatic Bitters from the above essence, take 1 oz of essence and combine it with 1700 ml of 25% alcohol, […]
The barrel is dry and the last of the Extinct Abbott’s bitters have been bottled. That means there are only 300 bottles left and once they are gone, that will probably be the end. Have no doubt they are a great tasting bitter and the research does point to this being the original Abbott’s recipe. However, these bitters are not […]
A recipe created by Chuck Taggart that was inspired by the flavour of old bottles of Abbott’s Bitters. Taggart’s Bitters Recipe: Gentian Root 1 tbls Cinchona Bark ½ tsp Quassia Bark 2 tsp Ginger Root 1 tbls Cardamom Seed, whole 2 tsp Cardamom Seed, crushed 2 tsp Cinnamon Bark 1½ tbls Cloves 2½ tbls Allspice 2 tsp Nutmeg ½ tsp […]
After 3½ years of extensive research, Abbott’s Bitters is just about ready to be revived. This is not a reverse engineered project, this is based on an old recipe I found that had an Abbott’s name on it. For the full history of my Abbott’s research, check out this slidecast. I am taking pre-orders for bottles of Abbott’s which should […]
Tasting history is one of the more enjoyable aspects of classic cocktails, however many of those original ingredients have been lost to time. Abbott’s bitters is one of those ingredients, and without it we really don’t know how the original Manhattan tasted. Sure, there are those rare vintage bottles of Abbott’s bitters floating around on eBay, but those bottles are […]
The preferred bitter of the sea-going captains or possibly just a name. This recipe is classified as a “strong bitter” and is in the same category as Angostura, Calisaya and Hop bitters. Seamens Bitters Recipe: Cardamom 3 oz Nutmeg 5 oz Coriander 8 oz Cinnamon ½ lb Cloves ½ lb Allspice ½ lb Caraway ½ lb Calissaya Bark 1 lb […]
Presumably this is a bitter named after the Knights of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem founded around 1023 as the Knights Hospitaller and eventually just the Knights of Malta. In 1119 the Knights Hospitaller and the Knights Templar were formed, but when the Templars were disbanded in 1312 most of their assets went to the Hospitallers. After being […]