Bitters

Question 1

Bitters: Introduction.

Answer 1

• Bitters (or their equivalent) have been consumed for medicinal reasons for centuries. The Romans in particular consumed bitter-style drinks and today, Italy is where bitters (amaro) have their greatest following.
• The character of bitters comes from the addition of one or more natural bittering agents: quinine, angelica, gentian, bitter orange, rue, nux vomica, artichokes, rhubarb, bitter aloe, which will either be distilled to obtain an essential oil or, more commonly, macerated in neutral alcohol.
• This bitter base is aromatized with clove, vanilla, coriander, ginger, sweet peels, etc. The mix may then be sweetened. As with any flavoured spirit (liqueur), the exact recipe is a secret.

Question 2

Bitters: Aperitifs.

Answer 2

• Normally drunk long as a palate sharpener before a meal. Globally, the best known aperitif is the Italian brand Campari. Its main bittering agents being bitter orange, rhubarb and quinine. Campari makes other bitters too.

• Cynar is based on artichoke and other 13 herbs and plants.
Apérol is similar in character to Campari but lower in strength, less complex and more herbal. France’s top aperitif bitters is Suze, a wine-based aperitif whose bittering agent is gentian root.

• There are many other brands of bitter made in this style in Italy, some focusing on one of the major bittering agents, while others have a wider ingredient base similar to Campari.

Question 3

Bitters: Digestifs.

Answer 3

Digestifs can be split in two subsections: sweet and overtly bitter.

1) Sweet digestifs
• Top-selling Italian Amaro is Averna, a mix of various herbs, barks and other botanicals. Most European countries have an equivalent.
• Spain has the fortified wine-based Calisaya whose bittering agents include cinchona bark, bitter orange peel and botanicals such as wormwood and liquorice root.
• Central Europe’s best known examples: Czech Republic’s herbal Becherovka, Hungary’s Unicum (40 different botanicals), Latvia’s Melnais Balzams (resins, wormwood, mint).

2) Overtly bitter digestifs
• They are the most intense drink inside the bitter family. To be consumed in small quantities as digestive tonics.
• Most famous: Italy’s Fernet Branca, whose ingredients include rhubarb, gentian, mushroom, liquorice, anise, saffron, camomile, angelica and peppermint.
• Czech Republic has Carlsbad; Germany has the explosive Underberg and the weighty Jagermeister (comprises 56 ingredients as anise, poppy seed and juniper). In recent years, Jagermeister has been successfully repositioned as a shooter in bars.

Question 4

Bitters: Cocktail Bitters.

Answer 4

• Bitters bottled at high strength, reduced to their essence, effectively taking them back to the ancient idea of an elixir. This how the most famous, Angostura, started life.
• Angostura was created in Venezuela by Johann Siegert in 1824, it used bitter barks and a number of other tropical botanicals. It was created as a cure for malaria for the troops of Simon Bolivar, to whom Siegert was surgeon general. It was later used to treat seasickness and scurvy. By 1830 it was being exported and then its use had changed (pink gins created at London Exhibition of 1862). The firm moved to Trinidad and the recipe remains a secret.
• Angostura wasn’t the first cocktail bitter in the market. The earliest definition of a cocktail comes from 1806. In New Orleans, Antoine Peychaud created a brand, more aromatic than Angostura, with notes of cherry stone and anise, which may pre-date its most famous rival.
• Bitters fell from fashion with the decline of the cocktail but now that cocktail revival is confirmed, bartenders are one again interested in these intense flavour adjusters. Many of the old brands may have gone but styles as orange bitters are once again available.