A very nice orange bitters with a aged whiskey base.
Notes: Some noteworthy aspects about these bitters; first and foremost they taste great, sourcing their spirit from Yahara Bay Distillery , and hand preparing and crafting their “raw” ingredients – meaning they use actual herbs and spices they don’t use shortcuts, oils, extracts and adjuncts to make compounded products (compounded is the polite term for the process that produces bathtub gin for example). Instead they hand prepare, infuse, macerate and blend all their products. Another interesting point is they use aged Whiskey to macerate this product instead of just neutral spirit, unlike most of the industry, which adds quite a bit to their taste overall. Their other products include: Blackstrap Bitters,Bolivar Bitters, Cherry Bark Vanilla Bitters, Jamaican #1 Bitters, and Jamaican #2 Bitters.
In this instance they use orange peels, (both fresh and dried), coriander, black and green cardamom along with burnt sugar and a double maceration of the orange peels to extract maximum flavor.
Obligatory Bitters Rave: Part of the almost demise of bitters in general is the sloppy research and omission of bitters in many modern cocktail books – many people say “They don’t use bitters in drinks anymore so why mention them in a recipe?” which of course just adds to the problem. If a book doesn’t mention bitters for at least martinis and manhattans don’t buy it! It means the person who wrote it has no idea what they are doing and are perpetuating mediocre books and ignorance. Bitters blend the other ingredients together, add many layers and depths of flavor, and may even help your digestion.
First Impression: Orange spice cake, caramelized orange aroma with spicy and bitter notes – as it should be.
Appearance: Bright gold/brown – think a light (grade A) maple syrup color, free flowing and clear.
Taste: Nicely aromatic and balanced aromatic. Primary tastes are orange coriander and cardamom backstopping the orange and providing a nice bitter and spice component.
Drinks: A great bitters for almost any drink you want to lend some depth and complexity to. Was absolutely lovely in a Manhattan we made (Sazerac Rye, Carpano Antica and both the Bolivar and Orange bitters)
Bottle: 1 oz with dropper dark brown glass bottle with attractive paper label design. The orange has a orange field on the label to distinguish it from the others.
Other: One of the best orange bitters we have had – it combined all the good points from each other orange bitter we have had in one bottle. Nicely done !
Final Thoughts: Another excellent new bitter very worthy of inclusion to a cocktailians bitters cupboard from Bittercube.
Website: http://bittercube.com