Bitters 101: A Touch of Flavor

It’s patio season, and that means mixed beverages. We’re avid home bartenders here at Blackstone’s, so we keep our cocktail supplies well-stocked to help you make great drinks at home. With a summer of cookouts and poolside parties ahead, we’re going to talk today about the overlooked cornerstone of most fine cocktails: bitters!

Bitters are alcoholic extracts, in which herbs, spices, roots, fruits, and other aromatic ingredients have been steeped in a blend of “neutral” (flavorless) spirits for long enough to infuse the liquid with flavor, aroma, and often color. Bitters are typically quite high in alcohol content (40-60%) and extremely potent in flavor. Do not drink just bitters on their own, they’re meant as a complement to the rest of a drink.

The very first cocktails were a blend of just whiskey, bitters, sugar, and ice. Bartenders swiftly started experimenting with other spirits, mixers, and anything else that might work, and far surpassed the original cocktail in complexity. However, one can still try out the original style; just ask for an Old Fashioned!

Bitters have diversified quite a bit from their original form as quasi-medicinal root extracts. They come in all flavors, and can be added to just about anything, not just cocktails. Certain bitters can be used in baking in the same way you’d use vanilla or lemon extracts, and the relatively small amount of bitters needed to flavor anything make them useful for low-alcohol drinks.

We carry a wide variety of bitters, but which one is right for you? It depends on what you’re drinking, and everyone’s taste varies a bit, but here are a few general tips for pairing bitters with spirits.

• Think about intensity of flavor. A robust spiced cherry bitter may overwhelm a gin-based cocktail, while a lighter grapefruit-rosemary bitter might get lost under a hefty rye.
• Consider whether contrast would help the cocktail. A hint of smoked cinnamon in a rum-based tiki drink can offset the sweetness, and a note of hibiscus and yuzu can brighten up a bourbon smash.
• Remember that with bitters, a little goes a long way! When trying out a new type of bitters, start with only a few drops and increase as needed. You can’t un-mix bitters from a drink, but you can always add more.

In addition to these general tips, keep in mind the overall flavor characteristics common to the major spirits, so that you can think about what flavors of bitter might complement them:

• Gin: Pine, floral notes, occasionally mild citrus (lemon/orange) in drier gin
• Rum: Sweet(!), molasses and oak in dark rum
• Tequila: Oak, agave, mild spice (pepper)
• Whiskey: Baking spice, vanilla (bourbon), baking chocolate (rye)
• Vodka: N/A (vodka’s easy, it tastes like whatever you put in it)

If after this you’re still a little unsure about how to best use bitters in making the perfect beverage, there are a few easy options. Our bitters vendors have online guides for cocktail-making and recipes for their products. More importantly, you can ask us. We’re always happy to field any questions from our guests, whether in-store or online. Let us help you find your new favorite drink!