Top products from r/bitters
We found 17 product mentions on r/bitters. We ranked the 10 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
1. Bitters: A Spirited History of a Classic Cure-All, with Cocktails, Recipes, and Formulas
Sentiment score: 4
Number of reviews: 6
Bitters A Spirited History of a Classic Cure All with Cocktails Recipes and Formulas
2. Bitterman's Field Guide to Bitters & Amari: 500 Bitters; 50 Amari; 123 Recipes for Cocktails, Food & Homemade Bitters (Volume 2)
Sentiment score: 2
Number of reviews: 2
3. DIY Bitters: Reviving the Forgotten Flavor - A Guide to Making Your Own Bitters for Bartenders, Cocktail Enthusiasts, Herbalists, and More
Sentiment score: 1
Number of reviews: 2
4. The Flavor Bible: The Essential Guide to Culinary Creativity, Based on the Wisdom of America's Most Imaginative Chefs
Sentiment score: 0
Number of reviews: 1
Little Brown and Company
5. Apothecary Cocktails: Restorative Drinks from Yesterday and Today
Sentiment score: 1
Number of reviews: 1
Used Book in Good Condition
6. Whiskey Cocktails: Rediscovered Classics and Contemporary Craft Drinks Using the World's Most Popular Spirit
Sentiment score: 0
Number of reviews: 1
7. Handcrafted Bitters: Simple Recipes for Artisanal Bitters and the Cocktails That Love Them
Sentiment score: 1
Number of reviews: 1
8. The Artisan's Guide to Crafting Distilled Spirits
Sentiment score: 0
Number of reviews: 1
Your options vary from 40 - 95% ABV (vodka, Everclear/NGS and other spirits as well). Your choice will depend on several factors:
I generally tincture with a base of 80% 151 proof spirit and 20% lower proof spirit(s). This yields me a base @ 60 - 68%. Given a base in this range, when tincturing is complete, I can usually expect a batch of bitters around 50% ABV. Just where I like 'em. I tend to extract components individually and blend a final bitters. For fresher components (read: with higher water content), like fresh citrus peels and herbs, lean closer to a 68% base. For dried components, like spices, lean closer to a 60% base. With a 60-68% base range, I can normally control the extraction process entirely with time. I can overextract if I want to, or be more controlling with less time.
I hope this makes sense.
I highly recommend Mark Bitterman's Bitterman's Field Guide to Bitters & Amari. At <$9 for the epub version, it may be the best resource currently available. I also recommend Brad Thomas Parson's Bitters: A Spirited History of a Classic Cure-All, with Cocktails, Recipes, and Formulas.
~Good luck!
Well, different ingredients are best extracted with different alcohols by proof. For example, for making vanila extract 50-70% spirit will work much better than 96% or 40% spirit. I'd recommend DIY Bitters: Reviving the Forgotten Flavor, great book with information about what alcohol content is best suited for what herb, thought can't say it's 100% correct information.
Welcome. This sub is pretty quiet. I would suggest checking out r/cocktails. LOTS of info over there. I make my own bitters, amari, and liqueurs and there are 3 main sources of information I consider “must have”
Good luck, and share your adventures on r/cocktails. Cheers!
Thanks! I'll add that to my wish list.
I also added [Apothecary Cocktails] (http://smile.amazon.com/Apothecary-Cocktails-Restorative-Drinks-Yesterday/dp/1592335845/ref=wl_mb_wl_huc_mrai_1_dp), which looks like it might round out the bookshelf nicely.
I highly suggest Homemade Bitters as the book to have, I also have Bitters: Spirited Cure All Cocktails and I have Bittermens Field Guide, but out of all I found Homemade Bitters to be the easiest to work with and has some more accessible recipes and a few cocktail recipes to pair with each recipe they supply.
It's a good starting point to making modifications as you go.
The trinity of bitters is Angostura, Peychaud's, and Orange bitters. Since you have experience with 2 of the 3, I'd start by rounding out with orange bitters. They're typically used more with herbal spirits, although anything you garnish with a citrus peel is a good option. Regan's is the go-to, but there are plenty on the market these days.
From there, look into chocolate and celery bitters, which add flavors that aren't present in any of the above. Chocolate works well with almost any dark spirit, but tequila/mezcal especially. Celery is a bit harder to work with, but it works in savory drinks, as well as adds a different dimension to a martini.
If you really want to deep dive, look into the book Bitters by Brad Parsons. It has a lot of history, ideas, and several recipes for homemade bitters.
I got this book for Christmas, it got me going pretty well. Many bitters recipes.
https://www.amazon.com/Bitters-Spirited-Cure-All-Cocktails-Formulas/dp/1580083595/ref=sr_1_1
My chef gave me this so I'd stop bugging him :)
Bitters, lots of good info and recipes.
edit: here is the link
http://www.amazon.com/Bitters-Spirited-Cure-All-Cocktails-Formulas/dp/1580083595/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1465130945&amp;sr=8-5&amp;keywords=bitters
I believe this book ( http://www.amazon.com/Whiskey-Cocktails-Rediscovered-Classics-Contemporary/dp/1592336396 ) had several cocktails with root beer flavour elements you could possibly play with. Let me confirm for you (I have to dig it out), because it uses absurdly obscure ingredients so the book may be a bust otherwise.
Admirable. I am new to this, but have done a lot of experimenting with gin and European-style schnapps based on 'The Artisan's Guide to Craft Distilled Spirits: Small-Scale Production of Brandies, Schnapps & Liquors' by Bettina Malle & Helge Schmickl
I got the recipe from this book. The hardest part was finding all the ingredients. I had to order cinchona bark online after trying 5 different stores, including two stores that specialize in herbs only. For the bottles, I ordered these.
I'm in no ways an expert, I've only made two batches before (orange and grapefruit), but in my experience, it's very difficult to get the complicated flavors balanced correctly that you would be looking for from a professionally made bitters. I think a lot of DIY recipes try to simplify a lot, which will give you a more straight forward, clean taste for what you're looking for, but maybe not all the crazy herbs and such because it's just so hard to properly balance them.
This would certainly seem to be a mild or more floral bitters, as they're looking to do most of the bittering with the actual lavender and orange peel. These can become quite bitter on their own, or you can even find bitter orange peel if you want more bitter notes. That being said, I used gentian in my orange bitters and holy hell was it bitter. I did infuse the ingredients separately - bitters in one mason jar, aromatics in another, but then promptly poured the two jars together... I would definitely suggest measuring and tasting when mixing. My orange bitters turned into more of an orange colored gentian bitters (and like 200ml of it...).
Mostly, I would suggest making a very small batches, infusing the flavors separately and mixing to taste. The bitter flavors will be strong, the fruit/floral flavors will be subtle. If I were to do this whole-hog again, I would probably separate all flavors your infusing and mix them to taste, but definitely do it by category (bitter vs aromatic, etc) so that you can mix them, taste, and adjust the proportions. Lastly, trying is the best way to see what works and see what you like.
DIY Bitters: Reviving the Forgotten Flavor - A Guide to Making Your Own Bitters for Bartenders, Cocktail Enthusiasts, Herbalists, and More https://www.amazon.com/dp/159233704X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_ZjzGDbC9PB96V
Quassia chips are not too expensive on Amazon - at least in the US - not sure where in the world you're located.