One of a series of bitters from a relatively new company in New York City (although truth be told anyone other than Fee, Angostura, Underberg and Peychauds – all in business for over 100 years – is a relative newcomer). The company was started by by Jake Feldman a couple years ago after making homemade bitters as a project for a magazine article: he got bitten by the bitters bug. He went commercial almost one year ago – and hasn’t looked back since.

This one contains herbs such as snakeroot, sweet flag (for mental dexterity, also used by Native Americans for various uses), grapefruit, cardamom, juniper and grapefruit.

The other bitters in the series are: Bitters,Old Men Gangster Lee’n Bitters, Bitters, Bitters, Old Men Isaan Another Level Bitters, Bitters, Old Men Krangostura Bitters, Bitters, Old Men Papaya Bitters, Bitters, Old Men Prickled Pink Bitters, Bitters, Old Men, Roasted Macadamia Bitters , Bitters Old Men Peach Basil Bitters,  Old Men Bitters, Smoke Gets In Your Bitters Bitters and a Bitters, Old Men Restorative Tonic

 *As a sidebar we are going to coin a new phrase (as of Sept 7, 2011) and use the term New World Bitters to describe bitters that are not a traditional company, style, or flavor such as Angostura (the brand named after a town) , Angustura (the actual ingredient in some bitters), Abbots, Bokers, Peychauds, Bitter Orange, Mint, Grapefruit etc., and are usually a new blend or hybrid of ingredients to distinguish them from the more traditional ones.

Appearance: Clear amber gold, slightly oily body to it. Does not have the dyes others use to color to darken their bitters.

First Impression: Bitter orange herbal citrus notes in a sensuous melange with a exotic backdrop of spices.

Taste: Actually the first impression is much closer to a calmondon orange bitter, but then the flavors start to ort the selves out in a nice progression of sweet flag, cardamom, juniper, with the grapefruit revealing itself as grapefruit rather than a calmondon orange- almost like a transvestite stripper you think one then at the end the other is revealed (sometimes anyway) backed up by the earthy and herbal tea like overtones of the snakeroot.

Drinks: Adds wonderful nuance,layers of flavor and depth to a cocktail. Bliss inducing addition to either a martini or Manhattan. Seems to work equally well with clear or dark spirits. For a non-alcoholic use it is a lovely addition to your mineral water also.

Bottle: Clear glass old-style bottle with built in glass eyedropper with attractive graphics on paper labels.

Other: They use local ingredients whenever possible. . .

Final Thoughts: Hands down our pick of the litter ! Down side for bean counting bar managers is cost. Yes, it costs four times as much as the cheap stuff – but take a look at our Bitter Math page to see how meaningless that is.

Website: http://bittersoldmen.com

Quick loading website – More of a placeholder than a proper site as such so far but does have some information and where to buy or order (always important). Seriously funny for those who have a at least slightly dark sense of humor.