Post #606946 by rangda on Fri, Sep 16, 2011 8:03 AM

On 2011-09-16 05:51, djmont wrote:
Has anyone experimented with the new Falernum Bitters?

It's a bitters that tastes vaguely like falernum. Not so good in tiki drinks as a sub for Angostura, but it can spice up a tiki drink that doesn't contain bitters at all. Also good for use in non-tiki drinks to give them a hint of tiki flavor. They are a bit mellow, I tend to use an extra dash over whatever a recipe calls for (and add at least 2 dashes if adding to a drink that does not call for bitters).

Interesting subs for Angostura in tiki drinks include Bitter Truth Gerry Thomas, Fee's Oak Barrel, and Bitterman's Boston Bittahs. I've had less success with Bitterman's Tiki as like the falernum bitters it's too similar to all the other flavors already in the cocktail (although again it is good in a drink not calling for bitters or to tiki-ize a non-tiki drink). I haven't tried using Boker's Bitters in tiki yet but that would probably work well too. Fruit bitters IMO work less well in tiki as most tiki drinks already have a lot of fruit flavor going on in them, although I have a blueberry bitters that could be interesting to try.

Playing with bitters can be lots of fun, I think I'm up over 20 different bitters bottles at this point.