Bringing Bitters Back

With the resurgence of cocktail culture, nearly every bar with an inventive mixologist—from the East Village’s PDT to San Francisco’s Cantina—makes its own bitters. A house mix gives any drink a personalized twist.

Bitters are potions that, with just a few drops, add backbone to a cocktail: The Sazerac wouldn’t be what it is without them. The best-known commercial bitters are practically household names: Peychaud’s, angostura, Regans’. Most were created during the golden age of the cocktail, at the turn of the 20th century, so it was high time for CHOW to try our hand at some. (We’ve also thrown in a couple of wild-card mixes for good measure.) But because the makers of the commercial varieties have kept their recipes under lock and key for over a century, and because they use such varied, hard-to-find ingredients—uncommon barks and dried berries among them—we can’t claim to have re-created them faithfully. Instead, consider these our own riffs. And rest assured they’ve been road-tested in a cocktail or two.

Aromatic Bitters
Use anywhere you’d add angostura bitters—such as in a Manhattan—but know that this version has a more subtle effect on the drink than its inspiration.

Notes from the Test Kitchen

It’s hard to believe that a simple recipe for herbs and alcohol would leave much room for ambiguity, but developing these formulas proved that many factors contribute to top-notch bitters. There are as many methods as there are mixologists, but the most important thing is how the bitters perform in a cocktail. Here are the main lessons we learned.

Alcohol
Once you’ve settled on which brand of bitters you’re going to try to emulate, the next consideration is which liquor to steep the flavors in. The best choices are spirits with a high alcohol content, but you’ll also need to choose between unflavored varieties, such as grain alcohol or vodka, and more flavorful ones, such as rye. Keep in mind that higher-proof alcohols extract flavor more quickly but can leave a harsh aftertaste.

Aromatics
Be it bark, berry, or herb, something must be added to that alcohol to give it complexity and distinctiveness. Most commercial bitters use relatively unknown ingredients such as gentian, but our recipes use items that can be found at high-end groceries or health food stores. Here’s where you get to personalize your bitters and experiment.

Aging and Agitating
These are key steps in flavor development. Aging (or steeping) helps extract flavor. Too little time and your bitters will be flat; too much and they’ll be unbalanced. Agitating (giving the mixture a shake every now and then) ensures that those flavors are dispersed throughout the mix, with no unexpected taste spikes.

Sunshine Bitters
The hue of these complex bitters is what gives them their name. The recipe came to us via San Francisco restaurant Nopa, where it’s used in the Girasol cocktail.

Grapefruit Bitters
These were made exclusively for the Sparkling Campari Cocktail but would also add a refreshing jolt to simple sparkling water.

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Bringing Bitters Back (cont.)

How Bitter Can You Go?
All bitters originated centuries ago when apothecaries started combining herbs, bark, and berries with alcohol and promoting the results as medicinal tonics. But in 1906, selling bitters as health remedies was outlawed, so they’re now found only behind the bar.

The type we’ve addressed here is nonpotable—not because they are unsafe for human consumption, but because they’re not intended to be consumed alone due to their strong flavors and high alcohol content (usually between 70 and 90 proof). A few dashes of nonpotable bitters are used to round out a drink. They’re most commonly found in classic recipes such as the Champagne Cocktail.

The second type of bitters is potable, typically poured as a digestif, a drink that aids digestion after a big meal. While the digestive-aid factor is up for debate, these distinctively flavored liqueurs are popular. The best-known potable bitters are Fernet-Branca, Jägermeister, and Unicum.

Other Uses for Bitters
Though bitters can no longer be sold legally as health remedies, many people still turn to them for just that purpose. Here are a few of the more common (if unscientific) applications:

Hiccups
Take a lemon wedge, coat it in sugar, then douse it with some bitters. Bite down, and your hiccups are supposed to disappear.

Upset Stomach
A few dashes of bitters added to a glass of club soda or ginger ale may cure indigestion.

Everything Else
Bitters are nearly a panacea: It is suggested that a few dashes will cure anything from a headache to the flu.

Orange Bitters
A perfect citrusy match for a Casino.

Cherry-Vanilla Bitters
Take the angostura bitters and the cherry out of your next Old Fashioned and use this twofer for a smart variation.

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Bringing Bitters Back

Give your home bar a backbone with homemade bitters

Notes from the Test Kitchen