Notes: One of a series of bitters from a relatively new company in Germany (although truth be told anyone other than Fee, Angostura, Underberg andPeychauds – all in business for over 100 years -is a relative newcomer), Stephan Berg and Alexander Hauck the founders of the company, launched their unique products on the market in Germany in 2006, after making homemade bitters at bars because of the lack of any decent commercial bitters. “Xocolatl,” is of course, the Aztec name for “chocolate.”

The other bitters in the series are: Bitter Truth Celery Bitters, Bitter Truth Grapefruit Bitters, Bitter Truth Lemon Bitters, Bitter Truth Jerry Thomas Decanter Bitters, Bitter Truth Old Time Aromatic Bitters, Bitter Truth Orange Bitters, and the new Bitter Truth Creole Bitters.

First Impression: Very much a bitter herbal and chocolate rather than bitter chocolate with a kind of creamy alkali chocolate overtone.

Appearance: Gold yellow brown, fairly thin and free flowing compared to some bitters. Does not seem to have the dyes others use to darken their bitters.

Taste: Fairly muted compared to some of their other bitters. Chocolate bitter, herbal bitters with some cinnamon and a slight touch of citrus/fruit. Gentian or Baerwurz component possibly for bitter herbal notes.

Drinks: None that we know of to try out. It does seem however to potentially be a quite useful bitter/nuance for a drink.

Bottle: Dark brown glass old-style / apothecary bottle cylindrical bottom half, with a slightly bulbous neck which makes for a comfortable grip

Other: One of the few bitters that can be found in a liquor store as opposed to a grocery store (at least around here).

Final Thoughts: Quite a bit different from the only other commercial chocolate bitter (Fee Brothers Aztec). Nicely done, excellent flavor – even if we are still at a loss as to what to use it for yet- must go mix some experiments in a bit. Down side for bean counting bar managers is cost. Yes, it costs 4 times as much as the cheap stuff – but take a look at our Bitter Math page to see how meaningless that is. For the money it adds a LOT of excellent, unique, nuanced flavor. As a footnote the product was licensed from Bittermans Bitters and the deal ended in July of 2010. It is now directly availablre from Bittermans Bitters.

Website: http://the-bitter-truth.com