Transcript: Bitters (Alberta Essential)

Cocktails on the Fly
Episode “Bitters”

Alberta Strauss: Hello, on this flight we are here to talk about Bitters. Commercial cocktail bitters, the four main brands. Just remember that flighty says bitters make it better. These bitters are essential for every bar. I don’t want to go over to anyone’s house and not be able to find all of these. And I especially don’t want to go out to a bar and not have these bitters.
Bitters are essential for cocktails, they bind flavors together and they add a distinctive and unifying complexity to cocktails that is absolutely essential. And you can’t live without them. Whether or not you are resurrecting old classics or you are inventing your own cocktails. Remember bitters make it better.
They are the four main commercial brands. We have Angostura bitters, Peychaud Bitters, Fee Brothers orange bitters, and Gary Regans orange bitters #6. Angostura’s bitters were actually created for Simone Bolivar’s troops fighting for independence in South America. These bitters were meat to combat stomach maladies, but they ended up being an essential part of cocktails such as the old fashioned, Manhattan, or the champagne cocktail.
The primary flavor of Angostura bitters is clove. You can smell I, you can taste the clove that comes out. A lot of other bitter elements and he really elements. Genchin is what provides the bitterness, but when you taste t you can actually feel the numbing feeling on your tongue that comes from the clove, so essential for Manhattans. Essential for old fashion, do not try to make Manhattans without Angostura bitters. It’s just not the same, and it’s not right. I just don’t care, just don’t do it. Okay?
The second bitters that we are going to be talking about are Peychaud bitters, created by New Orleans Apothecary Antoine Peychaud, who is often credited by cocktail enthusiast as being the father of the modern cocktail. He created the Sazerac which was very popular back in the day. These bitters have a primarily Annis flavor, or liquorish. They are central for the Sazerac, or the horse’s neck, or a number of cocktails. Annis goes really nice with scotch; you could try it with a Rob Roy for example. So it’s a nice flavor together.
The last two bitters that I am going to talk about are orange bitters. They are both orange bitters but they are vastly different. Fee brothers orange bitters have been around for a long time. Old cocktail books that you go through there are constant calls for orange bitters. And these bitters became very hard to find in the past twenty five years, which made Gary, which inspired Gary to create his own bitters.
Now these are vastly different in flavor. The fee brothers have a glycerin based. The glycerin base of the Fee brothers gives it a very light and creamy texture, and just a very light bitterness in the finish. So if your mixing up a cocktail, say a lemon drop, or aviation or something like that add these bitters to it. It just adds a nice brightness and just a slight hint of complexity to your cocktail, without being overwhelming.
Now Gary Regans bitters are totally different like I was saying. He based his recipe on this great recipe called the gentleman’s companion and guide to exotic cocktails. Now this book is impossible to find. If you have it I think you’re very, very lucky indeed. I have only had the opportunity to look through it a few times. I have seen the recipe in there. And uh this bitter has just got a bright citrusiness, but there is a lot of complexity and herbally flavors. And it’s spicy. There is cardamom, you can taste nutmeg in there and all spice. And then it is very bitter. This is a great bitter to add to almost anything you are creating yourself at home. If you have a cocktail that maybe it tastes a little flat, add these bitters to it and then all of a sudden you have got a dynamic tasting drink. So anyways, bitters, four of them, very good, flighty says bitters make it better.
Bitters:
1. Essential for any cocktail
2. Use to provide an accent
3. Based on herbs and or citrus
4. Stimulates the palette
5. Delicious