556 replies to this topic

[ChrisTaylor]

Bitters, bitters, bitters. Friend of mine was, through work, able to order in some bitters at a reasonable price. Normally in Australia non-Angostura bitters are hard to find (a handful of shops sell Fee's bitters and I know of one place that sells $40 bottles of Bittermans). The only problem--and I use the term loosely here, as I like bitters--was that I had to order 12 bottles. Oh. Well.

* Angostura orange
* Regan's orange
* Fee's grapefruit
* Fee's peach
* Fee's whiskey barrel aged
* Fee's black walnut
* Bitter Truth Bitterman's chocolate
* Bitter Truth Creole
* Bitter Truth lemon
* Bitter Truth Jerry Thomas' Own Decanter
* Dandelion & Burdock
* Boker's

Will need to figure out what to do with ... most of these. Open to suggestions.

[thirtyoneknots]

TBT Creole are intended as a Peychaud's analog, and performs handsomely in that role.

[ChrisTaylor]

When I saw the recipe for a Sazerac Improved Brandy Cocktail (cognac, absinthe, simple, bitters, lemon twist) on the label I figured that. Oh well. I wished I'd maybe bought something else instead but then, really, I'm going through the Peychaud's faster than the Angostura or the others bitters I've had since the start, so maybe I'll just set it aside as my replacement Peychaud's.

[ChrisTaylor]

Amaro Montenegro. Wow. Pretty much a blind purchase, this one. I mean, I had a vague idea about what it was, but it wasn't like I'd tasted it before or even nosed it. Good choice. It's very good. Reminds me, odd as it sounds, of musk sticks--you know, those pink lollies. Possibly I'm dead wrong on this, but I suspect it might work well with Perique. Only one way to find out.

[FrogPrincesse]

Amaro Montenegro. Wow. Pretty much a blind purchase, this one. I mean, I had a vague idea about what it was, but it wasn't like I'd tasted it before or even nosed it. Good choice. It's very good. Reminds me, odd as it sounds, of musk sticks--you know, those pink lollies. Possibly I'm dead wrong on this, but I suspect it might work well with Perique. Only one way to find out.

Chris- You may want to try your Amaro Montenegro in a Cobble Hill (2 oz rye, 1/2 dry vermouth, 1/2 Montenegro, 3 slices cucumber, stir, strain), a Manhattan variation created by Sam Ross. I tried that cocktail last weekend at the Varnish and it's fantastic.

Edited by FrogPrincesse, 08 June 2012 - 10:39 PM.

[campus five]

The Creole Bitters are amazing. I've subbed them for Peychaud's in Sazeracs, and tried various combinations with some Peychaud's, some Creole, and mixing in some Ango.
I do notice that the Creole Bitters seem to dry out a cocktail, perhaps because they are so spicy. I find myself needing to go slightly heavier on the gum syrup to compensate.

[EvergreenDan]

* Bitter Truth Bitterman's chocolate

Probably not, unless you got very old stock. The Bitter Truth made (past tense) Bittermens Xocolatl Mole bitters under contract (which ended a while ago) in their usual dasher bottle. TBT now makes a chocolate bitters of their own, which I have not had but I understand to be pretty chocolate-forward. Bittermens now makes their own Xocolatl Mole bitters (blue dropper bottle). The current version uses the authentic Bittermens recipe; the The Bitter Truth version had some changes (one might say compromises) required to be able to manufacture it in their facility. A bit more detail.

Which one did you get?

I'm very vond of Xocolatl Mole bitters -- complex, deep, and not overtly chocolate. Works great with tequila, of course.

[ScottyBoy]

Bitters, bitters, bitters.

* Angostura orange
* Regan's orange
* Fee's grapefruit
* Fee's peach
* Fee's whiskey barrel aged
* Fee's black walnut
* Bitter Truth Bitterman's chocolate
* Bitter Truth Creole
* Bitter Truth lemon
* Bitter Truth Jerry Thomas' Own Decanter
* Dandelion & Burdock
* Boker's

Man I need to brush up on my drinks, I didn't even know there were that many kinds of bitters!

[Meanderer]

I stumbled across the Bloomery Plantation Distillery near Charles Town W. Va. today and bought, among other things, a limoncello which was more tart and less murky than any limoncello available in the liquor stores near me. The owners are actually growing lemon trees in a greenhouse on the property, although I understand the trees are not yet sufficiently mature to produce fruit so they are currently buying lemons grown in California. They are also growing raspberries and plan to use fruit--they mentioned cherries and peaches--grown by local producers to make other distilled products.

[ChrisTaylor]

* Bitter Truth Bitterman's chocolate

Probably not, unless you got very old stock. The Bitter Truth made (past tense) Bittermens Xocolatl Mole bitters under contract (which ended a while ago) in their usual dasher bottle. TBT now makes a chocolate bitters of their own, which I have not had but I understand to be pretty chocolate-forward. Bittermens now makes their own Xocolatl Mole bitters (blue dropper bottle). The current version uses the authentic Bittermens recipe; the The Bitter Truth version had some changes (one might say compromises) required to be able to manufacture it in their facility. A bit more detail.

Which one did you get?

I'm very vond of Xocolatl Mole bitters -- complex, deep, and not overtly chocolate. Works great with tequila, of course.

So far as these things are concerned, I'm in the Gobi desert, remember. Chances are, any non-Angostura bitters floating around are old stock. The label says 'Bitter Truth Bittermens Xocolatl Mole'. I've only had used it once so far (Don Draper #2: Woodford Reserve, Perique, Regan's orange, Bittermens Xocolatl Mole) but it didn't seem anywhere near as chocolate-forward as the Fee's Aztec Chocolate.

[curls]

Very happy to find 375 mL bottles of Chartreuse and to add to my collection of amaros! Any cocktail suggestions for someone new to Chartreuse?

[ChrisTaylor]

Last Word and Final Ward. Tipperary.

[curls]

Thank you for the suggestions Chris, I have the ingredients for all three drinks in house, this will be a tough decision.

[Hassouni]

Make all three!

[ChrisTaylor]

Too, now that you have Cynar, I think you need to make an Art of the Choke.

[blue_dolphin]

Very happy to find 375 mL bottles of Chartreuse and to add to my collection of amaros! Any cocktail suggestions for someone new to Chartreuse?

Nice score on the smaller bottles of Chartreuse! My local shop carries the green in a 375 mL but not the yellow and I've been reluctant to fork over the bucks for the larger one. I vote for a Final Ward. One of those perfect cocktails that's more than the sum of its parts, IMHO.

My haul today:


Accompanied in the photo by an Aprilia to try out the grapefruit bitters and Cocchi Americano

[curls]

Tried the Last Word, interesting and tasty! Tomorrow night, Final Ward. Will add Art of the Choke to the list of drinks to try along with Tipperary. Thank you for the recommendations!

Blue_Dolphin, hope you enjoy the Rittenhouse bottled in bond, it is one of my favorite ryes for Manhattans.

[Bridgemo]

Very happy to find 375 mL bottles of Chartreuse and to add to my collection of amaros! Any cocktail suggestions for someone new to Chartreuse?

My favourite cocktail of all time is the Chartreuse Gator Bite. I found it in one of Simon Difford's early Sauce Guides, and indeed a modified version appears on his online guide. The recipe I follow, however, runs thus:

1 shot Green Chartreuse
1.5 shots Cointreau/triple sec
2 shots lime juice
1.25 shots of sugar syrup [I usually cut this down to 0.5]
0.25 shots lemon juice.

Shake with ice, serve in coupette with salt rim.

It is unbelievably delicious.

I haven't visited this forum for about five years, and I'm so pleased to see everyone in flying form.

[ChrisTaylor]

Last night I tried a Racketeer c/o the beta cocktails thread (that thread inspired me to order the book, too). Anyway. This one's an interesting one. Talisker rinse, then equal parts rye (Rittenhouse) and mezcal (Monte Alban) with sweet vermouth (I use Punt e Mes in these applications, purely because I don't use vermouth fast enough to justify keeping two bottles open), Chartreuse (green instead of the specified yellow), Benedictine and Peychaud's bitters. Just setting all these bottles out on the bench reminded me when, as a student, my housemate would go on monthly trips to the bottle-o and return with shit like cheap butterscotch schnapps and black sambuca and Bailey's. And then, er, make cocktails with equal parts of everything we had, based on the advice of dodgy 'mixilator' sites. But that association aside, the Racketeer is an interesting drink. And interesting in the positive sense of the word.

EDIT

Oh, shit, I thought this was the 'drinks' thread. Anyway. Yeah. Now you can make this, I guess, assuming you own Benedictine (which opens up a handful of interesting things), rye and mezcal, too. I only bought the mezcal yesterday, mostly for the sake of buying this drink and because I kept seeing mention of it in the beta cocktails thread (and maybe PDT, too, which I've also ordered). Didn't have a huge selection, at least not locally, and the only two I could find with decent-ish ratings were the Monte Alban and Don Juan. Haven't tried it straight yet. Might wait until I have something resembling a palate for tequila--it was only a couple weeks ago I was really tempted to upgrade my Espolon reposado to, say, something like a Don Julio anejo, then I actually tasted the anejo ... and it was nice enough, I guess, but to me it just didn't seem like such a big step up from the Espolon (sadly I didn't have the chance to taste them side-by-side) to justify spending, literally, 2.something times what I paid/can pay for Espolon, which has thus far worked just fine in things like tequila-based Old Fashioneds and Margaritas. I'd rather spend the money on nice bourbon. And I did. Russell's.

Edited by ChrisTaylor, 10 June 2012 - 04:47 PM.

[EvergreenDan]

A couple of new amari, an agricole, and a couple of bottles of firestarter.


The amari are both from Varnelli. The dell'Arborista is very nice, quite bitter, and (very lightly) sweetened with honey. Long bitter finish. Blurb on dell'Arborista. Sibilla is also lightly sweetened with honey and is prepared with "herbs and roots" "over a wood fire." Intense long bitter finish. Blurb on Sibilla. Both were quite expensive ($58-$65), but for a 1L bottle.

Not knowing where to start with the amari, I made one each:

1 1/2 oz gin
3/4 oz amaro
3/4 oz lemon
1/4 oz rich simple

I only added the simple because these arami are not particularly sweet and it was just too sour even for me. I would just scale back the lemon and skip the simple next time. Both have intense long bitter finishes. Something of the Black Diamond of amari. I liked them both, but I there is much room for improvement, I think.

Suggestions are welcome.

[Hassouni]

W&N and Ting!

[Kerry Beal]

A few things on sale at the LCBO Anna and I were in today - I have been surprised to discover that even though an LCBO offering isn't discontinued that individual LCBOs are able to clear out bottles at a discount. I picked up a few bottles of Leblon cachaca a while back for about 30% off. So I've found it's always worth seeking out the clearance bin and seeing what they want rid of.

On the left is the first Pisco I've been able to find at the LCBO (not one of the sale items), a bottle of Aperol to replace the one I ran out of (and apparently replaced already), a bottle of Mezcales de Leyenda silver mezcal (a bargain), Booker's bourbon (used it last week in a chocolate course in Scranton and really liked it), a really cheap bottle of Bol's Creme de Banana - (I know, I know, Bols but it was really, really cheap), Cazadores tequila (also on sale), small bottle of PX sherry and Rataffia de Champagne.

[EvergreenDan]

Just to remind you Kerry that God will kill a kitten every time you use that Creme de Banane. ;) If you use Midori, he kills two.

I think you'll find Booker's very helpful in making potent cocktails that also contain non- or low-alcohol ingredient. Pricey, but very flexible.

[Anna N]

Just to remind you Kerry that God will kill a kitten every time you use that Creme de Banane. ;) If you use Midori, he kills two.

I think you'll find Booker's very helpful in making potent cocktails that also contain non- or low-alcohol ingredient. Pricey, but very flexible.

Ouch!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Do I ban Kerry from my house or hide my kittens? Kerry, whatever you were going to make with that Creme de Banane - FORGET IT. What was it anyway?

[Kerry Beal]

Just to remind you Kerry that God will kill a kitten every time you use that Creme de Banane. ;) If you use Midori, he kills two.

I think you'll find Booker's very helpful in making potent cocktails that also contain non- or low-alcohol ingredient. Pricey, but very flexible.

Ouch!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Do I ban Kerry from my house or hide my kittens? Kerry, whatever you were going to make with that Creme de Banane - FORGET IT. What was it anyway?

A Lewis and Martin.

[Anna N]

Just to remind you Kerry that God will kill a kitten every time you use that Creme de Banane. ;) If you use Midori, he kills two.

I think you'll find Booker's very helpful in making potent cocktails that also contain non- or low-alcohol ingredient. Pricey, but very flexible.

Ouch!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Do I ban Kerry from my house or hide my kittens? Kerry, whatever you were going to make with that Creme de Banane - FORGET IT. What was it anyway?

A Lewis and Martin.

OK, Carry on. Sounds very interesting. Be sure to let us all know how good it is!

[mkayahara]

I have to admit that, while crème de banane has never been high on my to-buy list, I'd be curious to try the Planet of the Apes in Beachbum Berry Remixed.

[EvergreenDan]

You sure that isn't really Rowan and Martin ;)

[thirtyoneknots]

I have to admit that, while crème de banane has never been high on my to-buy list, I'd be curious to try the Planet of the Apes in Beachbum Berry Remixed.

It's pretty good, as those things go.

[Kerry Beal]

Oh dear - I guess that means two kittens are going down in the next few days!