The Bartender’s Spice Rack

The cocktail world is all about bitters these days – and not just the hard-hitting classics Angostura and Peychaud’s. Bartenders are enjoying the nuance they can achieve with just a dash or two of bitters in a wide variety of flavors, from citrus flavors like lemon, grapefruit and orange to vegetal flavors like celery to complex savory profiles like chocolate mole. “Bitters are our spice rack,” explained Eclipse Restaurant’s Lucas Ramsey. “They can add so many levels of depth and complexity.” Bitters are extracts of herbs, spices, roots or bark, steeped in spirits. High in alcohol and with a bitter taste, as the name implies, bitters originally served a medicinal purpose but eventually became an essential ingredient for bartenders. “The old cocktails always used bitters,” said Ramsey, who noted that Angostura was commonly used in a Manhattan or Old-Fashioned in the days before Prohibition. Likewise, what’s a Sazerac without bright-red Peychaud’s? Time was, bartenders had only Angostura and Peychaud’s with which to play. That began to change in the mid-1990s, when enterprising mixologist Gary Regan created Orange Bitters No. 6. In the years since, the spirits market has exploded with lines by Fee Brothers, The Bitter Truth and Bob’s Bitters, among others. Creole Bitters, the newest product by The Bitter Truth, was unveiled at July’s Tales of the Cocktail convention in NOLA. P.J. Doyle, beverage manager for Ruth’s Chris Steak House, had the opportunity to taste the new product. “They were reminiscent of gumbo filé. Cayenne, paprika – it reminded me of a roux,” said Doyle, who thinks that a dash or two of the Creole concentration will do great things for a Bloody Mary, not to mention its culinary potential for boiled shrimp or oysters on the half-shell. Local mixologists are taking the bitters explosion a step further by making their own flavor profiles. Doyle’s creations include Meyer lemon-thyme bitters, lemongrass and a currently fermenting combo of whole cardamom pods, black peppercorn and vanilla bean shells. You’ll also find homemade bitters at a handful of high-end craft-cocktail bars in town, particularly since Sanctuaria’s bar manager Matt Seiter is generous about sharing his DIY bitters with fellow local chapter members of the U.S. Bartenders’ Guild. Peruse the cocktail menu for bitters among the ingredients and give one of those drinks a try. You won’t leave bitter.