Anyone make their own? Anyone like an Old-Fashioned?

I started a couple years ago and have worked up a couple recipes I really like and they have been very well-received. Anyone else?

An old fashioned...what?

An old-fashioned is a currently (very) popular bourbon-based cocktail.

Generally it is highball glass with a bit of citrus peel rubbed around the rim, two ice cubes, two shots of bourbon, a few dashes of bitters, and citrus peel garnish.

My version is similar, but I use the citrus peel to transport a bittering bitters first. Then a couple ice cubes, bourbon, and some aromatic bitters. The garnish is still citrus peel.

Don't forget sugar or simple syrup in your old fashioned. Back in the '60s at least old fashons were popular with women while men drank Manhattans. Or dry martinis.

I admire your determination in making bitters. Have a bottle of Angostura mainly for cooking and it must be nearly 20 years old. How can you tell if its gone bad - turns sweet?

They're not all bourbon based - but they are all whisky based.

Yup, forgot the simple syrup. And sugar is out because it does not dissolve reliably. I generally skip the sugar.

It is very trendy these days... There is even a shop in the Sea-Tac airport that makes a huge number of different bitters and that is all they sell.

You are correct.

I went to a wedding once in Wisconsin (maybe 20 years ago). They had keg beer and pitchers of old fashions. I think its the #1 cocktail in WI.

I prefer a manhattan.

I have a buddy who makes his own bitters. Its good stuff.

Any recipes for bitters?

Every bar has Angostura because it's the most available. It's certainly not the best. My wife likes Manhattans, so I've experimented with a variety of Vermouths and bitters.

Peycheaux is "lighter" with a bit too much cinnamon-like note.

Scrappy's is okay. Wife doesn't care for it, but I use it in gin.

Fee Brothers is the best we've found so far. Complex and deeply flavored. I buy the 13-oz size and refill my 5-oz bar bottle as needed.


Fee Bros makes a dozen or more kinds of bitters. I use their Old Fashioned, Orange, and Lemon kinds. A dash of Orange in gin is fabulous.

Once, at a wonderful bar/eatery that no longer exists in Virginia, Minnesota, I ordered an old fashioned and got exactly that response from the waitress. We explained that she should just tell the bartender and that he would know what to do. Her response was, "No, he won't." My back was to the opening into the bar, and one of our group said that they were talking, then that he was getting a bottle of vodka, then that he had put it back and was on the phone. When the drink eventually arrived, it was quite passable.

I bet a dash of their lime bitters would be a nice touch for a gin & tonic.

Why don't they have a copy of the Mr. Boston guide behind the bar?

I have made lots of different citrus tinctures to mix into the bitters... so far, navel oranges have proven the poorest for flavor. Grapefruit is reliably good, tangerines are good, but lemon and lime have proven to be a bit bland. Living this far from decent produce makes it tough to get much variety.

Hey Math, bit off track, but you started it !

There is also quite the variety of tonic waters available now too.

We've been enjoying the Fever Tree varieties for the last couple of months.

https://fever-tree.com/en_US

There are lots of bitters recipes on the internet and almost all give a bunch of ingredients and says to cover them with everclear or vodka and let them sit for 2-4 weeks. That does not make sense to me because you do not know which component made the difference, good or bad.

I make tinctures of all sorts of spices, roots, leaves, fruits, etc. and then mix them. The base of most commercial bittering bitters is gentian bark. I made a couple quarts of it and start there. My latest success is a mocha bitters and a bit of it on vanilla bean ice cream is killer!

It has gentian, coffee, cocoa, cinnamon, vanilla, licorice seed and root, brown sugar simple syrup, ginger, and fennel.

I made one for Christmas with all the expected Christmasy spices.

Angotura's makes heavy use of caramel coloring to let you think you are getting more there. Much of the tinctures I make are clear or only slightly colored.

Bingo as I sip one as I type. Rye makes them better...

I may have to order the Fee Bros lime just for that. I can say that Beefeaters, Fever Tree tonic, and Fee Bros lemon bitters is wonderful.

I used to be a DIY guy, but now I just buy what I need. No mess, no fuss, no inconsistent results.

I enjoy Old Fashioneds and Manhattans (with a slight preference for Manhattans). I haven't drilled down on different bitters or doing your own so can't comment there.

You gonna hafta make me one.

Wisconsin is big on Old Fashioneds.
The standard Wisconsin recipe is a Brandy Old Fashioned Sweet, as Wisconsin is a heavy brandy state.
Ive tried them with brandy, bourbon, irish whiskey and once with Southern Comfort.
Funny, I was talking to a bartender today at a place along the sothwest Wisconsin border. He said occasionally he gets someone that wants one made with rum from Illinois.

I prefer bourbon but I’d bet there is more old fashioneds made with brandy in the state of Wisconsin than whisky in every other state combined.

And if it ain’t muddled it ain’t made right.

Can do...

Couple of years ago we were in London and the hotel we stayed in had a gin bar. It was quite an education. One of my favorite G&T's now is with London Dry Gin especially Sipsmiths which I can't find in MD but usually buy a couple bottles at the NH State store when we're up. (Sipsmiths Gin) Combine that with Fever Tree Elderflower Tonic Water and a peel of a lemon and an orange. Very refreshing.

I have seen only once the Fever Tree Tonic water with cucumber and I regret not buying it to try with Hendricks gin.

Allan, I love Hendricks G&T's with sliced cucumbers added !

Don't tell MathMan, he hates them with a passion.

Pickles and Hendricks are the reason there are cucumbers in the garden every year!

I suspect gin has more flavor profiles than any other liquor. Inevitable that someone hates one or another of them. I had some Hendricks Orbium last summer - very different than the regular Hendricks. G&T is a summer drink for me so I doubt I'll have one before next May.

Great thread.Odd that I've been thinking of Old Fashionds on the deck for this summer as OF's were my dad's drink of choice when weaving to and from various O clubs.

Care to share a link of preferred bitters to buy ?

Here ya go...

FEE BROS

Start with their Old Fashion Aromatic. I also like West Indian Orange.

Fee Bros apparently only deals wholesale. Other sources include KEGWORKS and barproducts.com

It's great if you like a G&T smelling of hand lotion.

Ouch!

The hand lotion thread is down in the misc section of the CF.

A Gin thread would be good once it's the season again.

Thank you, RR.

WT Rare Breed is my base liquor.

I am back home from a couple of days in Dallas and sipping an Old Fashioned while watching the game. Rocky has the bitters nailed and rye (Bulleit here) makes the best for me.

Fee Bros. Orange Bitters in a Perfect Rye Manhattan is... perfect.

Just got two cases of bitters bottles for nicer presentation. Also got three different styles of hops, wormwood, bogwort, and a bunch of other botanicals to tincture. I may be getting a little carried away!

I just buy the bottle of bitters. It's too easy. And I love an old-fashioned with Bulleit Rye.

I use a sugar cube and soak it with bitters before muddling. Then I add 3 mari cherries and muddle those to soak up the bitters/sugar. The I add an orange slice and muddle the center of it to mix it in with the other flavors. Then the Rye to marry with everything. Then the rest.

Every old-fashioned lover has their best recipe. We have two restaurants here that make very good old-fashioned's and always have Bulleit Rye on the shelf. I try to talk the family into going to one of those on the special occasion dinners. LOL.

You can get a lot better bitters than Angostura... and it is not cheap when you find it. I enjoy making it.

Ladies & gentlemen,

There in lies the key, to forgotten happiness.

Too many people today need everything right now !

So they settle for the mass produced, commercially processed, easily obtainable "stuff".

& I'm talking generally, about everything in life.

Scratch made anything, like our Grand Mothers/Fathers did, is a process to be enjoyed, nay savoured, because the end product is always better !

There's my rant done !

True for some things, but not all. I love to DIY stuff, but when I have to buy a quart of something when I need an ounce - and the end product doesn't get used often enough to make subsequent batches, like bitters - it's wasteful and often substandard. No, I let the people who have perfected their recipe make it and sell it to me. Consistency, ease, economy, and accessibility beat the sometimes satisfying act of handiwork.

You make many great points and you are certainly not wrong on most of them... but bitters can be used for a lot more things than you realize. Around here a small bottle of bitters has a very short life. There are plenty more where the first came from though.

As to perfected recipes... I firmly believe Angostura bitters are mediocre at best. They also sell here for $12-15 for the small bottles. The fancier brands are higher. I also have a number of friends making sure I do not end up with too much inventory! (No, I am not selling it.) I understand your position.

The only reason most bars use Angostura is because it's the only kind they know. REAL bartenders are smarter.

Yup!

I brought back a big bag of incredible limes from SHOT and had a little epiphany... the peels got chopped and dried, then flooded with tequila. The lime infused tequila became the base for bitters designed to add a little something to margaritas. I added gentian, Cascade hops, lemon, grapefruit, and clementine peels. Then I added spices that speak to me of Mexico: cardamom, coriander, star anise, licorice root, vanilla, and cinnamon. The urge to add hot peppers was beaten back, but black pepper, juniper berries, and cloves went in.

Started with Kirkland ready-mixed margarita mix and added their blanco tequila and a little triple sec before adding the bitters at the end on top of the lime wedge garnish. Have to say it was mighty good!

Now have wormwood, mugwort, and a bunch of other new stuff tincturing...

Just put together another edition of a basic bitter with quite a bit of wormwood (think absinthe) and it is something I need to record and repeat.

It is amazing how little wormwood it takes to stand out. Gentian and Cascade hops are the main bittering components. Molasses is the only sugar, but there is a bit of licorice root and it is sweet. Sarsparilla, clove, and elder "rue" make a mark, but the rest seem to be white noise. I think I try to do too much with too many flavors and need to cut it back to six or seven items at a time... hard for me to do that, though...

A good sarsaparilla, you say?

I think it is time for a Gin thread. Just ordered some 1908 a lavender gin for girl drinks and Monkey 47 for me. Thanks for the tip on Fee Bros. butters.

Sent me down the rabbit hole with this last night and I watched the whole movie...

You’re welcome.

😩😉

Sitka can you post a simplified recipe for an aromatic bitter? I have all kinds of herbs and spices so I think I will just need to get a couple more to make it.

On your comment about too many flavors I do that too but I try to think of it like a perfume with a top note, middle and base. Or like an article it needs a beginning, middle and end. Or like a newspaper article the gist can be repeated up to three times. Works for me.

I think I will use Mosaic Hops as it already has a citrusy taste. What else?

Many items make for good bitter notes. Gentian is the base for most commercial aromatic bitters. Hops would obviously add tremendous variety to the mix. Citrusy hops would probably lose some of their "statement" in bitters... I have not boiled hops, just use alcohol tinctures.

I add simple syrup, honey, or molasses to sweeten.

Different spices and herbs add nice touches depending on the intended use.

Clove is very strong and easy to overdo.
Cardamom is very good, but use whole pods.
Licorice root, seed, and bark are all good but have a documented ability to raise blood pressure.

Aromatic bitters usually do not include much citrus. For citrus bitters I use lots of different citrus. Ordinary navel orange peel is a real disappointment. Clemantines, blood and bitter orange peels are very good, as is grapefruit peel. I chop up the peel and dry it first. If just soaked while wet it seems to dilute the flavor. Most citrus bitters are around 15%. Lime peel soaked in tequila is the base of a Margarita bitter I real like.

Cinnamon, nutmeg, star anise, fennel, dill seed, caraway all have distinct flavors.

Elder flowers, lavendar, dried roses add more subtle aromatic tones.

Look to brewing supplies and health food stores for the best ingredients and ideas.

Right now I have wormwood, mugwort, sassparilla, and more new stuff working.

I forgot juniper berries... really good when making very herby bitters for "pink gin."