We’re still bitter.
Let me explain. Last summer, we wrote an insider piece on bitters that seems, in hindsight, to have been fueled by ESP. Bitters are finally starting to enjoy a tenure in the mainstream cocktail spotlight — which is confusing, because despite the fact that the herbal concoction is a foundational flavor element of many classic and reconstructed cocktails, most people won’t break their necks craning to see what selection of bitters is available behind the bar. And why would they? Bitters (generally pungent, tasting of herbs and citrus) are used drop by painstaking drop, making up approximately one one-billionth of a cocktail. Who cares?
Maybe you will, now that small-batch companies are tinkering around with flavors, producing rock-star cocktail accoutrements that completely kick ass.
Many people are choosing to tinker around with their favorite cocktails at home these days, apropos of the ricocheting economy. Flavor your favorite Bloody Mary recipe with a dash or two of celery bitters from The Bitter Truth, a German company founded in 2006 in an effort to widen the flavor spectrum of available bitters. Order online at www.the-bitter-truth.com, or pick ’em up at The Boston Shaker, a “store within a store” at Grand (374 Somerville Avenue, Somerville, 617.623.2429).
Fee Brothers — a family-owned company in Rochester, New York — churns out, among other cocktail enhancers, cherry, orange, lemon, mint, peach, and rhubarb flavored bitters. Grab some of Fee Brothers’ finest at Marty’s (675 Washington Street, Newton, 617.332.1230) or Blanchard’s (103 Harvard Avenue, Allston, 617.782.5588), or visit www.feebrothers.com.
Author, cocktail columnist, and self-proclaimed spirit freak Gary Regan has concocted his own special brand of orange bitters that warm your tongue with cinnamon and cloves. Regan’s Orange Bitters No. 6 are the perfect addition to hot apple cider or dark rum orange daiquiris (so easy: a shot of dark rum, half a shot of orange juice, and a hefty splash of simple syrup). Find the bitter fruit of Gary’s labor at The Wine Gallery (375 Boylston Street, Brookline, 617.277.5522 or 516 Comm Ave, Boston, 617.266.9300).
Of course, not everyone prefers DIY mixology. For a taste of what the experts are shaking up, visit Craigie on Main (853 Main Street, Cambridge, 617.497.5511), where bar guru Tom Schlesinger-Guidelli is cooking up cocktails such as the Arak Toddy ($10), a hot toddy gussied up with fennel seed, citrus, and Bittermens Pepper Cake Bitters, and the Northern Lights ($10), which features St. Germain, Scotch, lime, and Bittermens Tiki Bitters, a face-full of East Asian spices like allspice, star anise, and cardamom.
Lastly, for the purists who will never stray from the straightforward flavor of classic Angostura bitters, try them “molassa-cred” at Marliave (10 Bosworth Street, Boston, 617.422.0004) with the Molasses Flood 1919 ($10), a concoction of Sailor Jerry’s Rum, lime juice, molasses, and a splash of Angostura that is named, of course, for Boston’s infamous sticky-sweet disaster.
