Bitters a sweet addition to your cocktail game
Right now you might be feeling a little bitter about British Columbia flattening the COVID-19 curve more effectively than other Canadian provinces. Why? Suddenly, there’s a possibility you’ll be forced back into the office and—assuming you’re not living a real-life version of Mad Men—happy hour will no longer start at 3:01 p.m.
That makes this week a good one to talk bitters, the origins of which date back to when the Egyptians were building pyramids and perfecting the art of mummification. According to obscure yet reliable sources—a.k.a. Wikipedia—it wasn’t uncommon for the mixologists of ancient Egypt to infuse wines with medicinal herbs.
The modern incarnation of bitters can be traced back to the Venezuelan city of Angostura. In 1824, Germanborn doctor Johann Siegert was serving as surgeon general to the armies of Simón Bolívar when he came up with a medical elixir for the troops.
So what are bitters? For a basic description, think of a mix of different roots, spices, and bark that is added in small quantities as a complex flavour booster to mixed drinks. And that caveat of “basic description” is important, because today bitters are a full-blown cottage industry, with companies like Seattle’s Scrappy’s Bitters and the Vancouver-spawned Bittered Sling limited only by the power of their imagination. Bitters are now based on everything from lime, orange, and cherry to celery, habanero, and black walnut.
In 2018, Bittered Sling cofounder Jonathan Chovancek suggested to the Straight that they be treated like a seasoning. “It’s almost like when you add salt to a dish or lemon juice to a fish,” Chovancek said. “You’re not making lemon fish—you’re making the fish taste more of itself by adding that acid to it. So with cocktail bitters, you’re really bringing out the dynamics of your carefully chosen ingredients that you’ve put in your cocktail.”
Bitters can seem expensive; even though you only use a dash or three in most recipes, it can be hard to wrap your head around $20-plus for a 120-millilitre bottle. There’s a reason an affordable workhorse like Angostura has been around for almost two centuries: a couple of inexpensive dashes take things to a different level.
Try the below spin on a Barbados Rum Punch, where bitters really make all the difference.
RUM PUNCH
2 oz. Mount Gay rum
2 oz. passion-fruit or guava juice (Ceres is best)
1 oz. fresh lime juice
1 oz. simple syrup
1 dash Angostura bitters
Pour into a shaker over ice, shake, and pour into a tall glass over fresh ice. Garnish with nutmeg.