Bitters are an alluring ingredient. Originally intended for medicinal purposes, today’s flavor options run the gamut from celery to lavender to cardamom, like from Scrappy’s Bitters. Sometimes referred to as the salt and pepper of cocktails, they’re one of the most powerful flavoring agents available to bartenders
They can also be homemade. In spite of the time they take to be ready, home beverage enthusiasts have experimented with infusing high-proof alcohol with near-infinite combinations of herbs, spices and the like. One of the most sure-fire flavoring agents? Coffee beans.
Many of the specialty ingredients required for bitters can be purchased at local specialty food stores. If that fails, try ordering from Eugene, Ore.-based Mountain Rose Herbs.
Begin with 4 cups of overproof alcohol. Several alcohols, including rum and whiskey, will work for this, but your best bet is good-quality vodka, because it imparts less of its own flavor. Try Evanson Handcrafted Distilling for their recently-released 100-proof E Vodka or—if you’d like to get the most out of your base—Project V for their 160-proof Double Silo spirit (Project V also offers a 100-proof option, Single Silo Distiller’s Cut). A 100-proof bourbon is available from 2bar Spirits.
Add:
¾ cup whole coffee beans. Try something rich and earthy, like Kicking Horse Coffee’s Sumatra.
¼ cup cocoa nibs (try Theo’s)
3 tablespoons dried orange peel
3 tablespoons star anise pods
3 tablespoons whole black peppercorns
2 tablespoons gentian root, roughly chopped
2 tablespoons cinnamon bark
1 tablespoon brown sugar
Combine all dry ingredients in a large Mason jar and pour the alcohol in to cover them. Close jar tightly and allow to sit out of the way at room temperature for 4-6 weeks, shaking ingredients up every few days. When bitters have reached the desired strength, strain them through a coffee filter to remove the solids. Try a dash in any cocktails you like—they work particularly well in drinks based with rum, whiskey (like Hunger’s Ducati Manhattan) or coffee (like Huber’s Spanish Coffee).
