*Feel like listening instead of reading?*👇

Bitters.mp3

Two main categories: what to buy for what purposes

• Lifting Bitters: These highlight similar flavors already in a drink. They tend to feature just one or two dominant ingredients.
  • Examples: grapefruit, orange, celery, lavender.
  • Start experimenting in clear spirit cocktails.
    • Orange or celery in martini
    • Grapefruit or spicy pepper in a margarita
• Binding Bitters: instead of one or two flavors, binding bitters are complex and act like salt in a dish, connecting and heightening flavors. They can rescue or transform a drink with just one dash.
  • Examples: Aromatic bitters like Angostura (yellow cap), Bittermens Xocolatl Mole, Bitter Truth Aromatic.
    • These are primed and ready for dark spirit cocktails, like an old fashioned, manhattan, or whiskey sour.

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Remember: When it comes to some cocktails, not adding bitters is a bit like not salting your fries.

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That’s the essential info you need. Want to get nerdy and go deeper? 👇

What are bitters?

They’re made by steeping high-proof alcohol with concentrated infusions of ingredients like barks, roots, spices, citrus peels, or herbs typically for weeks. They’re used sparingly with recipes calling for a dash or two, amounting to only a few drops.

In addition to adding flavor, many draw out or bind flavors together. They also can increase the texture, subtly making a drink taste creamier or richer. Another way to think about it is they can add some of the dryness a tannic wine has.

🌿 History 101

Just like vermouth -checkout the vermouth page-, bitters are flavored with bitter herbs and botanicals—wormwood, cinchona (quinine), gentian, etc. Originally, bitters were medicinal. Think of a monk working in medieival times.

The first bitters that we still have today**, Angostura**, was created in 1824 in Venezuela to help soldiers battling malaria. Only later did someone decide to put them into cocktails. 🤯

🤔 Why bitterness matters

Bitterness in nature is often a warning sign—many poisonous plants 🌿☠️ are bitter. But in lower doses, it has useful benefits:

• Stimulates the appetite