Message 3605 of 39188 in General Discussion

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> There is a problem to buy Angostura in my country - I couldn't find 
> any company reselling it. So may be there is a way to do home-made
> bitter similar in taste to angostura?
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I've got some old cocktail books at home that have some additional bitters 
recipes, but none that list Angostura (The recipe is a closely guarded trade 
secret).

Bitters, when properly used, are perhaps one of the most important ingredients 
in a truely classic cocktail.

Here is an article I wrote up on this topic:

http://www.drinkboy.com/Essays/TheBitterTruth.html

But to paraphrase:

Used to be, that most bartenders would make their own bitters. And it also 
used to be that there were far more bitters available then there are today. 
Angostura today is of course the most popular, and in many peoples eyes the 
"only" bitters. But there is also Peychauds, used mostly for the Sazerac 
cocktail, as well as Orange, Peach, Aromatic, and Mint bitters which are all 
offered by "Fee Brothers" in Rochester New York. Once, "Orange Bitters" was 
the most popular form of bitters for use in cocktails, and there were perhaps 
a dozen different companies that made it. I list "a" recipe for Orange Bitters 
here:

http://www.drinkboy.com/LiquorCabinet/Flavorings/OrangeBitters.html

You can also find another recipe for Orange Bitters in "The Book Of Bourbon" 
by Gary and Mardee Regan.

Another popular bitters that is no longer made, was "Abbott's Bitters". If you 
are lucky, you can sometimes find full bottles of this being offered on eBay, 
or through other antique supply sources. There was a short period of time that 
they actually listed the ingredients. From this, some of my friends and I have 
been gradually trying to work out a workable recipe. We aren't quite done yet, 
but here are the basics:

The key ingredients are
  Gentian, Ginger, Cardamom, Cassia, Cloves

Gentian, is essentially the component that makes this "bitter", the others are 
there for the spice and character.

Start out with making seperate tinctures of each of the above listed 
ingredients. A tincture is essentially just Vodka (or Everclear), with the 
ingredient steeped in it for about 10 days. I'd recommend using perhaps 2 cups 
of Vodka, with 4 Tablespoons of the herb/spice. Remember, a seperate tincture 
for each.

Let these sit for about 10 days shaking them periodically, then strain. Then 
you need to make a carmelized simple syrup.

This is done by putting 1 cup of sugar into a pan, and heating it slowly until 
the sugar melts. Continue to cook until the sugar just takes on a brown 
(carmel) color, but doesn't get burnt! Remove the pan from the heat, let it 
cool slightly, but while the sugar is still relatively liquid, slowly add a 
cup of hot water. Stir to make sure that the sugar and water are fully 
dissolved. If the sugar had cooled off too much, you may need to place it on 
the heat and warm it up some more.

Now you are ready to try mixing some bitters.

Experimenting with a very small batch, combine

1 parts Gentian
1 parts Ginger
6 parts Cardamom
8 parts Cassia
4 parts Clove
5 parts Carmelized Syrup

(ie. use a teaspoon for each "part")

You won't have any Abbott's to compare this to, so you aren't so much looking 
for an exact match, but you are wanting to end up with something that 
represents a firm blending of the flavors involved, with a tang of bitterness 
to it. Taste the Gentian tincture by itself, and note its flavor. You are 
using the other flavors to balance this out and make it more acceptable. Note 
that you aren't necessarily looking for something that you could drink simply 
by itself, much in the same way that you wouldn't want to drink worschetchire 
(or however its spelled :-) by itself.

When I finally get the recipe completed, I'll have it down so that you add a 
specific weight of each of the spices into a single jar of Vodka, then add the 
carmelized syrup at the very end.

Hope that helps.

-Robert
 www.DrinkBoy.com