Anyone out there enjoy Bitters in their drinks or cocktails? Did you know that according to the classical definition, a drink needed to have bitters to be considered a cocktail?
Basically Bitters are a concentrated flavoring made by infusing bark, herbs, fruit peels, flowers, roots, and other ingredients in alcohol. A dash or two is usually all that is needed for a drink. Two commonly found brands are Angostura and Peychaud's Bitters. These are both Anise forward, buta jam packed with other herbs as well, these are also called Aromatic Bitters. Due to the high herb content, Bitters are also used as a digestif to help with stomach aches or aid in digestion when one has overconsumed (either food or drink). Commercial Bitters usually have an alcohol content around 40-50%, but again, you're only using a tiny bit. The alcohol is used to extract the oils and flavors form the ingredients.
Some companies make bitters in a dozen or more different flavors, like: Orange, Peach, Lemon, Grapefruit, Mint, Cherry, Celery, Chocolate, Rhubarb, Cranberry, Plum, etc....
I'm a big fan of the traditional aromatic bitters from Angostura, and love making an Old Fashioned cocktail or putting a few dashes in my Gin & Tonic. A while back I was out of town and got a gin & tonic from a bar, and asked if they had bitters, the bartender pulled out a bottle and said this is all we have. I looked at it, and saw it said cinnamon. I was intrigued, and said sure why not. Turns out it was the most delicious G&T I'd ever had. I went to look for it later and discovered that that flavor had been discontinued by the company, and I've yet to find anyone else that makes cinnamon bitters. (well , I did find one, artisan product, but it wasn't nearly as good). This sort of led me down the path of wanting to make my own.
Then the other day I was in the store, and saw a new product on the shelf.... Lime Bitters. I love Lime, especially in a G&T. I looked at the price, and gasped.... $17, for a small 5oz bottle, which is like 4 times the cost of Angostura. But a bottel of bitters does last quite a long time so I decided to splurge and try it. It was ok, but not great. Tasted like lime peel mostly. I expected something more complex. That convinced me to go down the road of making it myself.
Basically making biters is kind of a two step process, but when you start researching recipes, everyone has their own method. First you get all your ingredients and soak them in alcohol (as high proof and neutral as you can find). Everclear is best, but vodka will work. (I used about 2 cups of alcohol) They should soak for 1-2 weeks, and you should agitate every day to encourage maximum extraction of flavor. After that that time you strain out all the solids and put them in a saucepan with 2 cups of water, and boil for a time to get the last bit of flavor extracted out of the ingredients. Then the water and alcohol are mixed, after cooling, and you have bitters!
I started simple and am trying 3 different flavors.
Lemon: Peels from about 4 lemons (with most of the pith removed), a little lemon juice/pulp (basically whatever I could crape out of the lemons after I juiced them), half stick cinnamon, and 1 clove.
Lime: Same as above, just with Limes instead. The lime peels were grated, unlike the lemons
Cinnamon: 4-5 crushed up cinnamon sticks, 3-4 cloves, 10 walnuts.
Still soaking so it'll be a bit before I can try it to see if it's a success or not. But I'm optimistic. Will be tweaking my recipe based on the results.
Basically Bitters are a concentrated flavoring made by infusing bark, herbs, fruit peels, flowers, roots, and other ingredients in alcohol. A dash or two is usually all that is needed for a drink. Two commonly found brands are Angostura and Peychaud's Bitters. These are both Anise forward, buta jam packed with other herbs as well, these are also called Aromatic Bitters. Due to the high herb content, Bitters are also used as a digestif to help with stomach aches or aid in digestion when one has overconsumed (either food or drink). Commercial Bitters usually have an alcohol content around 40-50%, but again, you're only using a tiny bit. The alcohol is used to extract the oils and flavors form the ingredients.
Some companies make bitters in a dozen or more different flavors, like: Orange, Peach, Lemon, Grapefruit, Mint, Cherry, Celery, Chocolate, Rhubarb, Cranberry, Plum, etc....
I'm a big fan of the traditional aromatic bitters from Angostura, and love making an Old Fashioned cocktail or putting a few dashes in my Gin & Tonic. A while back I was out of town and got a gin & tonic from a bar, and asked if they had bitters, the bartender pulled out a bottle and said this is all we have. I looked at it, and saw it said cinnamon. I was intrigued, and said sure why not. Turns out it was the most delicious G&T I'd ever had. I went to look for it later and discovered that that flavor had been discontinued by the company, and I've yet to find anyone else that makes cinnamon bitters. (well , I did find one, artisan product, but it wasn't nearly as good). This sort of led me down the path of wanting to make my own.
Then the other day I was in the store, and saw a new product on the shelf.... Lime Bitters. I love Lime, especially in a G&T. I looked at the price, and gasped.... $17, for a small 5oz bottle, which is like 4 times the cost of Angostura. But a bottel of bitters does last quite a long time so I decided to splurge and try it. It was ok, but not great. Tasted like lime peel mostly. I expected something more complex. That convinced me to go down the road of making it myself.
Basically making biters is kind of a two step process, but when you start researching recipes, everyone has their own method. First you get all your ingredients and soak them in alcohol (as high proof and neutral as you can find). Everclear is best, but vodka will work. (I used about 2 cups of alcohol) They should soak for 1-2 weeks, and you should agitate every day to encourage maximum extraction of flavor. After that that time you strain out all the solids and put them in a saucepan with 2 cups of water, and boil for a time to get the last bit of flavor extracted out of the ingredients. Then the water and alcohol are mixed, after cooling, and you have bitters!
I started simple and am trying 3 different flavors.
Lemon: Peels from about 4 lemons (with most of the pith removed), a little lemon juice/pulp (basically whatever I could crape out of the lemons after I juiced them), half stick cinnamon, and 1 clove.
Lime: Same as above, just with Limes instead. The lime peels were grated, unlike the lemons
Cinnamon: 4-5 crushed up cinnamon sticks, 3-4 cloves, 10 walnuts.
Still soaking so it'll be a bit before I can try it to see if it's a success or not. But I'm optimistic. Will be tweaking my recipe based on the results.
