The world is a better place with bitters. Not only are they absolutely crucial in many cocktails, bitters can also add flavor and spice to foods, ease that overfull feeling after dinner, and in many places are revered as a curative for a host of aches and pains. Created with secret recipes of herbs, spices, fruits, vegetables, and more, until not long ago bitters had fallen from their exalted position behind the bar (and in other spots, but especially there). Though popular and available in multiple varieties in the late 1800s and early 1900s, they got a little lost in the middle-and-last-part of last century, to the point where you were lucky if a bar had Angostura bitters. If the bar had Angostura and Peychaud’s bitters (both never became completely unavailable), it was a cocktail-lover’s heaven. If the bar had more, you’d rented a time machine. But slowly, as people realized drinks should taste good again (well, there are many theories, but sometimes it’s best not to question too much), bitters started making a comeback. The Fee Brothers line of flavored bitters started showing up more, cocktail genius Gaz Regan came out with his Orange Bitters No. 6 after long and steady research, and more bitters started showing up. And now, low and behold, The Bitter Truth line of bitters is finally available in the U.S. via Domaine Select. Created in Germany by Stephan Berg and Alexander Hauck, The Bitter Truth bitters and cocktail seasonings that are now available include their award-winning Celery Bitters, Old Time Aromatic Bitters, Orange Bitters, Lemon Bitters, and Bittermens Xocolatl Mole and Grapefruit Bitters (Bittermens is an American bitters maker that until now had limited availability). There’s no reason at all to go bitter-less when making drinks--making this, as I’ve said before, a wonderful time to be a cocktail lover.
PS: I almost forgot the most exciting bitters news of all. Al Dente writer and bon vivant extraordinaire Brad Thomas Parsons is currently writing the definitive guide to bitters (and to making your own bitters, too), Bitters: A Spirited History of a Classic Cure-All, with Cocktails and Recipes (Ten Speed Press, Fall 2011). Be sure you watch for it.
--A.J. Rathbun
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