Intelligent Bartender

I’ve been bartending for longer than I can remember and, to be honest, it was years before I ever opened a bottle of bitters.

While working in Australia I was introduced to bitters as one of the ingredients in the hangover cure trifecta — lemon, lime and bitters. Made with lemonade (or 7Up to those of us who live in North America), lime cordial and the magic “bitters,” this elixir is used to settle the stomach.

By definition, a bitters is an alcoholic beverage similar to a spirit but principally derived from herbs and citrus dissolved in alcohol.

Bitters generally have a bitter or bittersweet flavour profile. They also commonly have an alcoholic strength of up to 45 per cent. But because they are so rich and full of flavour, bitters are normally consumed in small amounts (1/64 of an ounce to 1/32 of an ounce.)

Bitter liqueurs like Jagermeister were originally consumed for their medicinal qualities as much as their intoxicating properties, however, those mentioned here are considered digestif.

There are hundreds of brands of bitters but the worldwide bestseller and most readily available one in Canada is Angostura.

In addition to its original bitters, Angostura has an orange bitters that works well in cosmopolitans, negronis and margaritas as well as most cocktails containing Campari, Cointreau, Grand Marnier, triple sec or blue curacao. Other exceptional orange bitters include Regan’s Orange Bitters No. 6, Stirrings’ Blood Orange Bitters and Fee Brothers’ West Indian Orange Bitters, which also produces grapefruit, peach, lemon and mint-flavoured bitters. And then there’s Peychaud’s Bitters. While similar to Angostura, Peychaud’s has a big, bold red fruit flavour.

Over the years, the widespread use of bitters has dwindled due to the lack of education about this alcoholic liquor and bartender ambition. However, a couple of dashes of bitters can make an enormous difference in the depth of flavour in your drinks. They are also the best value for money investment a bar can make.

Take a traditional balanced cocktail like the Cuba Libre (rum and coke). Four elements are used to balance this drink and make it a bestseller: rum (strong); ice or water (weak), which balances the strength of the rum; cola (sweet); and lime (sour), which balances the sweetness of the cola.

When balancing a cocktail based on these two axes, (strong versus weak, sweet versus sour), you end up with a drink that hits both sweet and sour taste receptors. Because the Cuba Libre hits two of the four taste sensors on the tongue — the others being salty and bitter — it is given a rank of two.

Then there’s the whisky sour, another cocktail classic. This drink has all the makings of a great balanced cocktail. Even though its namesake is ‘sour,’ the addition of sugar or simple syrup balances this drink and makes it palatable. Most bartenders use rye or bourbon, simple syrup and fresh lime juice to make this cocktail. However, if you look at the classic and sometimes forgotten recipe, it calls for two dashes of Angostura bitters. The addition of bitters to a whisky sour hits sweet, sour and bitter notes on the tongue, giving this drink a rank of three.

Drinks like the margarita naturally hit three of the four taste receptors — sweet (orange liqueur) balanced by sour (lime juice) and salty (salted glass rim). Adding a few dashes of orange bitters can create a cocktail that hits all four taste receptors, providing the drinker with an unparalleled taste experience.

I’ve been bartending for more years than I’ll mention in this article, and to be honest, it was years before I ever even opened a bottle of Angostura Bitters. While working in Australia, I was introduced to Bitters as one of the ingredients in the hangover cure trifecta, the lemonade-lime and bitters. Lemonade (or 7-up to those of us who live in the western hemisphere) lime cordial, and the magic elixer - Angostura bitters, to settle the stomach.

It wasn’t until years later that I started using bitters in cocktail applications, and only upon reflection on the original LLB that I realized the phenomenal difference that adding bitters to a cocktail would make.

When you consider a traditional balanced cocktail like the Cuba Libre (rum and coke) there are four main elements which lead to the balance, and make the cocktail a bestseller.

The Cuba Libre has

1. A strong element (Rum)

2. A weak element (Ice/water) balances the strength of the rum

3. A sweet element (cola)

4. A sour element (lime) balances the sweetness of the cola.

When you balance a cocktail based on these two axes, (strong vs weak and sweet vs sour) you end up with a drink that hits on both the sweet and sour taste receptors on the human tongue. Because this drink hits a total of two taste receptors we’ll rank this drink a 2.

Take another classic, the Whisky Sour, which also has the makings of a great balanced cocktail. Even though it’s name sake is Sour, the addition of sugar or simple syrup is essential to balance this drink and make it palatable. Most bartenders would make this cocktail with a measure of Rye or Bourbon, simple syrup and fresh lime juice. However if you look at the classic and sometimes forgotten recipe it calls for two dashes of Angostura (Aromatic) Bitters. Why the bitters was removed from the recipe is a mystery, I’m willing to bet it had more to do with laziness and lack of education than anything else.

Angostura aromatic bitters are the best selling bitters worldwide, and the product is excellent. They also make a great Orange Bitters which works well in Cosmopolitans, Negronis, Margaritas, or pretty much any other recipe containing Campari, Cointreau, Grand Marnier, Triple Sec, or Blue Curacao. The bottom line is when you add bitters to a beverage it takes the drink to a completely different level, simply because you’re accessing a completely new group of taste receptors on the tongue.

Drinks like the Margarita work on a similar level, because they take the balance of sweet and sour and add the salty rim, which hits a third group of receptors; sweet, sour and salty. Add to that a few dashes of the Angostura Bitters and all of a sudden you have a cocktail that hits all four of the major taste receptors on the tongue, and provides the drinker with an unparalleled taste experience.

There are a ton of other options in terms of bitters, and if you’re really interested in taking it to the next level, you can always go ahead and make your own with your choice of fruits, vegetables, herbs and spices. When I was at Bourbon and Branch in San Francisco last fall the bartender had a great homemade Pineapple and Black Pepper Bitters.

Angostura isn’t the only Orange Bitters manufacturer. One of my favourite mixologists, Gary Regan, created Regans Orange Bitters #6 (which means that the 5 previous attempts weren’t up to Gary’s standards.) Stirrings also has a good Blood Orange Bitters, and La Fee produces, among a smorgasbord of other flavoured bitters, a West Indian Orange Bitters. Other flavours include Grapefruit, Peach, Lemon, and Mint bitters, and of course, no collection of bitters would be complete without Peychaud’s Aromatic Bitters, which has the some similarities to Angostura with a big red fruit flavour.

Bitters are a great addition to any bar program, and in terms of adding taste to a cocktail, they are the best value for money investment a bar can make. A few drops makes a HUGE difference.

For a great selection of proprietary bitters point your browser to www.kegworks.com

For some inspiration creating your own homemade bitters, there are a great selection of bitters recipes at Darcy O’neil’s blog at www.artofddrink.com

San Fransisco is a mecca of bar culture. When you’re in town it doesn’t take long to realize that bars and bartenders seem to take things a little more seriously, putting pride into their cocktail experience. I had heard the term “Speakeasy” as a term to describe a bar or tavern but never really given it much thought. I was fortunate enough to visit Bourbon and Branch, which is about the closest thing to a modern speakeasy out there. Speak Easy was a slang term used to describe an establishment that illegally sold alcoholic beverages during the period known as Prohibition (1920–1933) when the sale, manufacture, and transportation of alcohol was illegal. The term comes from a patron’s manner of ordering alcohol without raising suspicion — a bartender would tell a patron to be quiet and “speak easy”. Although we’re not currently entrenched in Prohibition, the simple act of going into a busy establishment where you could have a conversation at a comfortable volume and get a great drink is, unfortunately, a rarity. After a couple of failed attempts, I finally got a reservation via email and they sent me the address and my password via email. When we arrived at the unmarked building with no number on the door, (we figured out we were at the right place by process of elimination) we knocked. The door opened a crack and we were asked for a password first, then a reservation name. Once inside we settled into the bar for our 90 minute time allowance and enjoyed everything that Bourbon and Branch had to offer.

Cell phone use is not allowed, allowing uninterrupted conversation, and I almost got the feeling that we had stepped back to a point in time when invasive technology wasn’t everywhere. The feeling of being in a comfortable place insulated from the outside world, where you could literally enjoy the social element of a public house the way things used to be.

Bourbon and Branch is a place I’d love to work, with a full sized test kitchen, where bartenders are encouraged to experiment and come up with new and unique ingredients and cocktail creations. I got to try a house sour with home made pineapple-black pepper bitters, and it made me realize the importance of having a creative space to work with where a bartender can play and come up with unusual ingredient collisions.

For a list of the Bourbon & Branch house policies, and to check out their site click here.

Every ingredient was measured and balanced with care, the way it should be done, no bottled or canned juices in site, lots of fresh cirtus, and a mix of classic and modern cocktail techniques rounded out the visual experience, no drink crossed the bar without first being tested by the bar chef/mixologist/bartender/bar keep… lets just leave it at beverage professional.
One of the most surprising delights of Bourbon & Branch was their commitment to stay Vodka free. Full flavoured cocktails littered the menu made with brandy, gin, whisk(e)y of every variety, tequila, and rum, but no vodka. In fact one of the rules of the house is “dont even think about asking for a Cosmo.”

Although B & B is not the only bar in San Francisco to make such a commitment, in a time where (unfortunately) vodka makes up between 1/4 and 1/3 of all spirits served, it’s refreshing to see
that people have the balls to buck the tasteless trend and truly get back to basics.