Bitters

A few dashes of a dark, potent liquid hold up most classic cocktails. These are the bottles behind them.

In May 1806, a newspaper in Hudson, New York, answered a reader’s question about a new word. The Balance and Columbian Repository defined the cock-tail as “a stimulating liquor, composed of spirits of any kind, sugar, water, and bitters.” So bitters are not a garnish on the cocktail. They are one of its four original parts.

Wikipedia describes a bitters as “an alcoholic preparation flavored with botanical matter for a bitter or bittersweet flavor,” and says many longstanding brands began as patent medicines. In a drink built on sour and sweet, bitters bring another taste that balances the two. Wikipedia’s Old Fashioned entry notes that the original “bittered sling” gave way to fancier drinks in the 1860s, and drinkers who wanted the plain version asked for the old-fashioned way. Here are the bottles worth knowing.

An unlabeled dasher bottle of dark reddish-brown bitters beside a sugar cube and a twist of orange peel

Angostura aromatic bitters

Angostura says Dr. Johann G.B. Siegert began making remedies for digestive problems in 1824 and called his secret formula “Amargo Aromatico.” The name comes from the town of Angostura, now Ciudad Bolívar in Venezuela. The maker says the recipe has not changed since 1824, and it calls the formula “one of the most well-kept secrets.”

According to Wikipedia, Siegert was a German surgeon general in Simón Bolívar’s army, and the House of Angostura moved production to Trinidad in 1875, where it remains in Port of Spain. The same page says the bitters contain no angostura bark and are built on gentian, herbs, and spices. The maker does not describe a flavor beyond that secrecy. The entry lists the Old Fashioned, Manhattan, pink gin, and champagne cocktail among the drinks that call for it.

In my drinks:Lake House Old Fashioned and Sazerac.

An unlabeled dasher bottle of bright red bitters beside a rocks glass and a curl of lemon peel

Peychaud’s bitters

Antoine Amédée Peychaud was a Creole apothecary in New Orleans. The dates are loose. The Sazerac House says the bitters were “originally created by Antoine Amedée Peychaud in New Orleans in the 1830s.” Difford’s Guide says he bought his drugstore in 1834 and sold an “American Aromatic Bitter Cordial” as a tonic. Wikipedia puts the invention between 1849 and 1857 and flags the conflict with an 1830 date elsewhere on the page. Difford’s adds that about a decade after the Sazerac’s “supposed” 1858 creation, Peychaud sold his pharmacy, formula, and brand name.

The Sazerac Company makes Peychaud’s. In December 2019 the Sazerac House in New Orleans announced it was bottling some on site, and per its release the bulk still comes from Buffalo Trace Distillery in Kentucky.

Wikipedia describes a gentian base like Angostura’s, with a “predominant anise aroma” and a background of mint. An unnamed Difford’s Guide reviewer (2020) found a clear, scarlet red liquid with cherry, licorice, aniseed, celery, and orange zest on the nose, and called it “Undrinkable neat but a fabulous cocktail ingredient.” It is the bitters in the Sazerac and the Vieux Carré.

In my drinks:Sazerac and Vieux Carré.

Orange bitters

Wikipedia says that for many years orange bitters were difficult to find in the United States. Three bottles are common behind bars now, and they taste different.

Regans’ Orange Bitters No. 6. Gary Regan started from a recipe in Charles H. Baker Jr.’s The Gentleman’s Companion, per Punch, and signed a deal with the Sazerac Company in 2005 to sell it commercially. Other sources date Regan’s work to the 1990s. Reviewer Christopher Null, writing in Drinkhacker, finds tangerine on the nose, “clear notes of cardamom and clove-like character on the back end,” and a lingering bitterness. Punch names the Pegu Club and Alaska as old gin drinks it suits.

Angostura Orange.Angostura calls it “the second offering available in the range, introduced in 2007,” and describes “a complex blend of tropical oranges and spices.” Punch dates the release to 2008. The maker says it is “the soul of an exceptional dry martini.” Null found it very pale with a bright mandarin note, sweet on the palate, and short on nuance.

Fee Brothers West Indian Orange.Fee Brothers of Rochester, New York, calls its bitters “orange oils that bring you the bright, bitter flavors of the West Indies” and suggests one to three dashes. Null calls it lighter in color and much sweeter than Regans’, with sweet tangerine that fades to cinnamon and clove.

In Regans’ early years, bartenders often blended the two, a mix known as “Feegans’,” per Punch. Wikipedia says it is often used in a Manhattan, with Fee’s sweetness balancing Regans’ “heavy cardamom note.” Orange bitters also go into the dry martini and Old Fashioned.

In my drinks:Vesper’s Green Thumb and Vespers at Night.

An unlabeled dasher bottle of deep orange-red bitters beside two orange habanero peppers

Bittermens Hellfire Habanero Shrub

Bittermens was started by Avery and Janet Glasser. Per Wikipedia, they were living in San Francisco in 2007 when they were invited to a bitters-making event, production began in Somerville, Massachusetts, in 2010, and the company moved to Brooklyn (2011), the New Orleans area (2013), and Portland, Oregon (2016). Edible Brooklyn in 2012 said their journey began in 2006 and put them in a DUMBO factory. A retailer page written in the brand’s voice now says the products are made by hand in New Orleans, so the current base is unsettled. On March 3, 2017, the Sazerac Company said it had bought a “significant interest.”

Difford’s Guide calls Hellfire “a concentrated spiced shrub bitters,” flavored with chile peppers, berries, and spices. Wikipedia lists habanero, elderberries, and red wine vinegar, from 2011. The brand’s copy, as quoted on a retailer page, says it is for spicy drinks, where hot sauce often unbalances the cocktail, and “you only need to use drops instead of ounces.” No source here ties it to a classic drink. It is a modern bottle for heat.

An unlabeled dasher bottle of golden bitters beside a cinnamon stick and a glass of whiskey

The Bitter Truth Old Time Aromatic Bitters

Munich bartenders Stephan Berg and Alexander Hauck founded The Bitter Truth after a June 2006 visit to the London Bar Show. The company says its first products, Orange Bitters and Old Time Aromatic Bitters, came out in August 2006 (the German page says autumn). It is based in Pullach, near Munich.

The maker calls it “The Classic Aromatic Bitters” and says it is “bitter and tangy,” with cinnamon, cardamom, anise, and clove and an aroma of gingerbread, per the maker’s page. It suggests two dashes in a Manhattan, two or three in an Old Fashioned, and a dash each in the Old Cuban and Queen’s Park Swizzle. Difford’s Guide found golden liquid with cinnamon and nutmeg on the nose.

An unlabeled dasher bottle of dark amber bitters beside a star anise pod and a strip of lemon peel

Scrappy’s Orleans Bitters