Abbotts

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… [Continue]

Bitters are big business in the cocktail world and historically a cocktail wasn't a cocktail without bitters, so it only makes sense. We often associate bitters with bars because of the cocktail, but the reality is that bitters were most likely sourced from the local pharmacy prior to prohibition. Even when bartenders were making thier own bitters, they probably sourced the ingredients from… [Continue]

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 ship sometime in May or very early… [Continue]

The inevitable has happened. Tempus Fugit Spirits has sent me a cease and desist letter asking me to stop using the Abbott's Bitters name as they feel they have a legitimate trademark on it. I disagree and I will explain why below. Though the letter is polite, like all cease and desists, it is implied that it will get much less pleasant if I ignore them. Consider this the first response. And… [Continue]