In the cocktail world, there’s one ingredient that’s been called the salt and pepper: bitters.
It wouldn’t be a huge surprise if you’re unfamiliar with bitters; they’ve been a semi-secret weapon among bartenders for years. For instance, classic sippers like Manhattans and Old Fashioneds use bitters to balance their sweetness, an essential step toward a cocktail’s drinkability.
But today, there are so many varieties in those medicinal-looking bottles that bitters could easily be considered more than just the salt and pepper — they’re a cocktail’s entire spice rack, offering complementary flavor and balance difficult to accomplish without a few drops.
Made up of high concentrations of flavor from various ingredients, bitters must include bittering agents to give them their flavoring-balancing power. Items such as angelica root, citrus peel, dandelion leaf, gentian root and sarsaparilla are considered bittering agents. The second key component in bitters is the aromatics. They include just about every herb, flower, fruit or spice, so the only limitation to your bitters — and your cocktail — is, as they say, your imagination.
A couple columns ago, we whipped up a hibiscus gin cocktail. Those who kept some leftover dried hibiscus on hand are in luck; the ingredient acts as an aromatic in this week's bitters how-to.
For one of the recipe’s bittering agents, I went with wild cherry bark. Keeping the season in mind, our bitters formula also incorporates fresh citrus peel, plus juniper berries, which have pine notes and a citrus flavor all their own. They’ll provide a flexible flavor profile for different gin and vodka drinks.
The ingredients for your bitters may be purchased from any decent grocer and, of course, online. The hardest to find — bittering agents — are the most important. Gentian root is probably the easiest to score locally, with your best bet being a specialty spice store. You don’t want the ground varieties of any bittering agent, however, as they’ll cloud your final product.
One last thing: Use a neutral spirit north of 100 proof to extract all the components’ flavors. A strong one out there is Everclear, but a potent vodka will work as well.
Feel free to experiment. The combinations are truly endless.
Grapefruit, Lemon and Hibiscus Bitters
2 lemons, peeled
1 grapefruit, peeled
1/4 cup dried hibiscus flower
1 teaspoon lemongrass
1 teaspoon wild cherry bark
1 teaspoon chamomile
1 teaspoon juniper berries
High-proof, neutral alcohol, to top
Put lemon and grapefruit peels into a standard-size Mason jar. Add hibiscus, lemongrass, cherry bark, chamomile and juniper. Top with alcohol and shake. Store at room temperature for 2 weeks. Remove peels and strain through coffee filter. Store bitters in dropper bottles, or other small glass containers.
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This article appears in Apr 14-20, 2016.