Make Your Own Bitters! - Tiki Drinks and Food

ATP Atomic Tiki Punk Tiki Socialite Costa Misery Joined: Jul 19, 2009 Posts: 7118	ATP Atomic Tiki Punk Posted posted on Thu, Feb 12, 2015 4:36 PM Want to make your own homemade bitters? This is from Liquor.com, It is surprisingly simple to do. http://liquor.com/articles/make-your-own-bitters/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Liquor%3A%20Total&utm_campaign=02.09.15%20-%20FA%20-%20DIY%20Bitters THE SUPPLIES Making bitters is no more difficult than many of the concoctions bartenders have been known to whip up from scratch, like marmalade, orgeat and tonic. Much of the process consists of waiting while the ingredients steep in high-proof liquor. To start the process, you’ll need: Two 1-quart Jars Cheesecloth High-proof spirit (typically vodka or whiskey) Roots, herbs, spices and other flavorings When choosing the type of spirit as your bitters base, consider what the end flavor will be, as well as the types of cocktails the bitters will be used in. For light, fruity drinks, go with vodka. For Manhattans and other whiskey or rum-based drinks, choose a dark spirit. Then, all that’s left is to decide what to flavor the bitters with. Brad Thomas Parsons’ Bitters: A Spirited History of a Classic Cure-All is a great place to start gleaning basic ideas and quantities, like in these Apple Bitters and Pear Bitters. A few combinations we’ve found to be successful are dried cherries and coffee beans, hops and grapefruit peel, and lemon peel and peppercorns. Many recipes call for unusual bitter roots and barks, which can be hard to find outside of a city with a specialty market. These include: gentian, a super-bitter root that’s also found in Angostura and many other flavored and aromatic bitters; cinchona bark, which contains quinine and is also used in making tonic; and cassia chips, a bark that’s part of the cinnamon family. To find these ingredients online, try Kalustyan’s, Mountain Rose Herbs or Amazon. Other more common kitchen spices that are used to flavor bitters include anything from star anise, cardamom and peppercorns to lemongrass and juniper berries. THE PROCESS Once all of the freaky roots, spices and other flavorings are gathered, it’s time to embark on the mostly hands-off process of making bitters. Though it varies somewhat from recipe to recipe, this is a generally fool-proof guide. Step 1: Steeping Combine all the spices, roots, barks and other flavorings to a jar and add in the high-proof spirit. This will sit for about two weeks and will need to be shaken daily to ensure the flavors infuse properly and evenly. Step 2: Strain & Cook Strain the spirit into a clean jar using cheesecloth, then seal. Heat solids on the stove with water and then put that entire mixture (water and vodka-soaked ingredients) into a separate jar. Let that sit for one week. Step 3: Combine & Sweeten Strain out the solids, discard and combine the infused vodka with the water. If the liquid is still murky, strain it again through cheesecloth. (It’s common to have a little sediment remain.) The last step is to add a bit of sweetener, if needed, to make the mixture more palatable, as it will be incredibly bitter. Depending on the flavor of the bitters, use a rich simple syrup (two parts turbinado sugar to one part water), honey, molasses or maple syrup. Once added, shake it until the sweetener is fully dissolved and let it sit for another three days. Finally, the bitters are ready to bottle. THE BOTTLING Now, after about a month of mostly passive preparation, all that’s left to do is bottle the bitters. One-, two- and four-ounce dropper bottles can also be easily found on Amazon or at medical supply stores. And, if you want to get really fancy, Cocktail Kingdom has various pro-style bottles that give the perfect dash of aroma to drinks. As for labeling the bitters, some prefer the super-homemade approach, as you can see above. But for those who would rather have a more polished final product, Evermine and Vistaprint sell customizable labels in all colors and sizes. Now it’s time to use the bitters in cocktails, on ice cream or in any variety of recipes. You could even try to cure a cold with them, though that effort would probably be in vain. [ Edited by: Atomic Tiki Punk 2015-02-14 23:52 ]

Want to make your own homemade bitters?

This is from Liquor.com, It is surprisingly simple to do.
http://liquor.com/articles/make-your-own-bitters/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Liquor%3A%20Total&utm_campaign=02.09.15%20-%20FA%20-%20DIY%20Bitters

THE SUPPLIES

Making bitters is no more difficult than many of the concoctions bartenders have been known to whip up from scratch, like marmalade, orgeat and tonic. Much of the process consists of waiting while the ingredients steep in high-proof liquor. To start the process, you’ll need:

Two 1-quart Jars
Cheesecloth
High-proof spirit (typically vodka or whiskey)
Roots, herbs, spices and other flavorings

When choosing the type of spirit as your bitters base, consider what the end flavor will be, as well as the types of cocktails the bitters will be used in. For light, fruity drinks, go with vodka. For Manhattans and other whiskey or rum-based drinks, choose a dark spirit. Then, all that’s left is to decide what to flavor the bitters with.

Brad Thomas Parsons’ Bitters: A Spirited History of a Classic Cure-All is a great place to start gleaning basic ideas and quantities, like in these Apple Bitters and Pear Bitters. A few combinations we’ve found to be successful are dried cherries and coffee beans, hops and grapefruit peel, and lemon peel and peppercorns.

Many recipes call for unusual bitter roots and barks, which can be hard to find outside of a city with a specialty market. These include: gentian, a super-bitter root that’s also found in Angostura and many other flavored and aromatic bitters; cinchona bark, which contains quinine and is also used in making tonic; and cassia chips, a bark that’s part of the cinnamon family. To find these ingredients online, try Kalustyan’s, Mountain Rose Herbs or Amazon.

Other more common kitchen spices that are used to flavor bitters include anything from star anise, cardamom and peppercorns to lemongrass and juniper berries.

THE PROCESS

Once all of the freaky roots, spices and other flavorings are gathered, it’s time to embark on the mostly hands-off process of making bitters. Though it varies somewhat from recipe to recipe, this is a generally fool-proof guide.
Step 1: Steeping

Combine all the spices, roots, barks and other flavorings to a jar and add in the high-proof spirit. This will sit for about two weeks and will need to be shaken daily to ensure the flavors infuse properly and evenly.
Step 2: Strain & Cook

Strain the spirit into a clean jar using cheesecloth, then seal. Heat solids on the stove with water and then put that entire mixture (water and vodka-soaked ingredients) into a separate jar. Let that sit for one week.
Step 3: Combine & Sweeten

Strain out the solids, discard and combine the infused vodka with the water. If the liquid is still murky, strain it again through cheesecloth. (It’s common to have a little sediment remain.) The last step is to add a bit of sweetener, if needed, to make the mixture more palatable, as it will be incredibly bitter. Depending on the flavor of the bitters, use a rich simple syrup (two parts turbinado sugar to one part water), honey, molasses or maple syrup. Once added, shake it until the sweetener is fully dissolved and let it sit for another three days. Finally, the bitters are ready to bottle.

THE BOTTLING

Now, after about a month of mostly passive preparation, all that’s left to do is bottle the bitters. One-, two- and four-ounce dropper bottles can also be easily found on Amazon or at medical supply stores. And, if you want to get really fancy, Cocktail Kingdom has various pro-style bottles that give the perfect dash of aroma to drinks.

As for labeling the bitters, some prefer the super-homemade approach, as you can see above. But for those who would rather have a more polished final product, Evermine and Vistaprint sell customizable labels in all colors and sizes.

Now it’s time to use the bitters in cocktails, on ice cream or in any variety of recipes. You could even try to cure a cold with them, though that effort would probably be in vain.

[ Edited by: Atomic Tiki Punk 2015-02-14 23:52 ]

Post #737253 by Atomic Tiki Punk on Thu, Feb 12, 2015 4:36 PM