Abbott's bitters revisited

12/25/11:

My lady got my Parson's "Bitters" book for Christmas, and it has reawakened an interest/hunger to work on some bitters recipes.

"Abbott's Bitters" haven't been made for a long time, but Robert Hess @ DrinkBoy had posted a formula for a reasonable facsimile of Abbott's Bitters.

Here's the formula paraphrased.

4 tbsp gentian root
4 tbsp fresh ginger, peeled and sliced into quarter-sized disks
4 tbsp cardamom, whole
4 tbsp cassia
4 tbsp whole cloves
10 cups (2.36L, a little more than 3 750mL bottles) vodka or Everclear (grain alcohol)
1 cup sugar
1 cup boiling water

In 5 separate containers (preferably glass), mix one of each herb with 2 cups alcohol. These will form the "tinctures".
Let steep for 10 days, shaking once per day.
Strain each tincture through coffee filter paper, discard the solids, rinse with clean hot water, and return tincture to its container. (It will help to label them to keep track!)
Make caramel sugar syrum: heat sugar in pan until it melts and turns light brown (be careful, don't let it burn or turn too brown, it will continue to cook off-heat).
 Remove from heat, and slowly stir in 1 cup of boiling water. Switch to a whisk to dissolve, and return to heat to dissolve, if necessary.
Next combine the following parts (start with teaspoon or 1/2 teaspoon measures):

1 part gentian tincture
1 part ginger tincture
6 parts cardamom tincture
8 parts cassia tincture
4 parts clove tincture
5 parts caramel sugar syrup

Combine in a bottle with dash top. Enjoy in your favorite cocktail!

infusions and bitters

Spent some time this evening cataloging my liquor cabinet. I've got:

• Over 70 bottles of liquor, most of which are liqueurs for mixing
  
• 11 bottles of bitters (not including my own custom mixes)
• A few homemade liqueurs (apple pie mostly, and some limoncello)
  

Some favorites:

• Vodka: so neutral, and makes a bunch of my favorite drinks. Great for infusion too, if you don't have easy access to grain alcohol. For "daily use" I like Skyy, and for "splurge" I like Ketel One or Grey Goose.
  
• Gin: even though I have none in my cabinet right now, I like it a lot! Faves are Bombay Sapphire and Junipero
• I love sweet/sour & bitter drinks, with preference lately to vodka: Vodka Tonic, Cape Cod, Salty Dog/Greyhound
• Brown water (bourbon/scotch/rye): Blanton's and Gentleman Jack are two faves, although Ardbeg and Laphroaig are two other faves, must try more. Woodford Reserve is nice too. I wanna try Buffalo Trace and Old Potrero. Maker's Mark is passable but I prefer it to mix with ginger ale.
  

I've made a few infusions & liqueurs over the years. Here are a few:

• Meyer Lemon-cello
• Krupnikas (spiced honey liqueur)
• Apple Pie (apple cider+juice)
• Pineapple (fresh pineapple)
• Bitters (a whole host of 'em!)

The base of most of these is Everclear, aka grain alcohol. You can only buy 151 proof in California, but a quick trip out of state can obtain 190 proof.

Infusions that I've liked in the past few years (all involve soaking in grain alcohol for a period of time, then straining off the solids carefully thru fine-mesh strainer (such as chinois) and/or coffee filter paper. BTW, if you have a vacuum pump + flask, you'll get much more effective filtering!

• Pineapple: soak fresh pineapple in vodka or grain alcohol for 1-2 weeks, strain off the solids
• Zesty Bourbon: soak lemon, grapefruit and orange zests in bourbon (this one is courtesy of Scott @ Cyrus in Healdsburg) for about 2 weeks
  
• Cranberry: soak fresh cranberries for 4 weeks, strain off solids

Some other infusions that have done well over the years:

• Cranberry Raisin: soak dried cranberries and raisins for a couple of months, discard solids. After 5-6 years or so, the flavor really mellows out nicely

Some that didn't do so well:

• Fresh plum: from the trip to Petaluma to visit T's grandparents. We'll see what happens, but doesn't smell/look good at this point, looks kinda oxidized and gross.

As far as bitters go, I've come up with a few recipes that are pretty good, but they're top secret :) Suffice it to say that a trip to Bevmo for Everclear and a trip to the local health food store for organic dried herbs and spices will lead to some nice essence extractions, which you can use to blend your own concoctions.

orange bitters

I've been playing around with making liquers recently. Earlier this week got two "presents": one I bought for myself (my new SF Chronicle II cookbook) and one Beckey got for me: a bottle of orange bitters. These are non-alcoholic blood orange bitters (from Stirrings, a Fall River, MA company). Contents: water, sugar, gentian extract, citric acid, blood orange extract, flavors and caramel color.

I can do better than that! Plus you have to refrigerate after opening, which I don't like. So I started doing research...that's why I love the interweb. Really it's amazing to me that you can go out and find recipes.

Some things I learned so far:

• you can make herb and bark infusions separately in jars, then blend them to taste
• a Buchner funnel + flask and vacuum pump can help a lot to speed filtering
• don't fear pith! a bit of pith can add flavor
  

Orange Bitters

* 1/2 pound dried (Seville) orange peel, chopped finely
* Pinch of cardamom
* Pinch of caraway
* Pinch of coriander seeds
* 2 cups grain alcohol
* 4 tablespoons burnt sugar

1. Mix the orange peel, herb seeds, and the alcohol
2. Let stand in a sealed jar for 15 days, agitating every day.
3. Pour off spirits through a cloth, and seal again.
4. Take the strained off seeds and peel, put them in a saucepan, crushing with a wooden muddler.
5. Cover them with boiling water, simmer 5 minutes;
6. Put in a covered jar for 2 days, then strain this off and add to the spirits.
7. Put in burnt sugar for color.
8. Filter again, let stand until it settles perfectly clear, then bottle for use.

Be careful not to agitate the slight precipitation or sediment during the final operation.

Some links I found:

http://www.bostoncocktails.com/2006-06-13-make-your-own-bitters.html
http://www.onlinesciencemall.com for science gear
http://www.drinkboy.com/liquorcabinet/flavorings/orangebitters.html for above recipe and other orange bitters resources.

Here are some bitters flavors to consider:

• Lemon juice, peel, pith
  
• Blood orange juice, peel, pith
  
• Sour orange peel (naranja agria), juice, pith
  
• navel orange juice, peel, pith
  
• grapefruit juice, peel, pith
  
• grapefruit juice, peel, pith
  
• lime juice, peel, pith
  
• cardamom
• caraway
• coriander
• ginger
• cloves
  
• star anise
• fresh ginger
• burnt sugar
• molasses
• juniper berries
• gentian
• lemongrass
• nutmeg
• fennel seed
• vanilla
• black pepper
• white pepper
• almond (raw, roasted or toasted)
• apricot kernel
• sloe berry
• birch bark
• caramelized sugar (sugar turned to caramel, then into simple syrup)
• rose petals
• orris root
  
• angelica root
  
• lavender
  

Which reminds me, I'll have to post a krupnikas recipe soon...