Notes: One of a series of bitters from a relatively new company in New York City The company was started by by Zach 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 in 2010 – and hasn’t looked back since.

The other bitters in the series are: Bitters,Old Men Gangster Lee’n Bitters,Bitters,Old Men Great in ’28 Bitters, Bitters, Old Men Isaan Another Level Bitters, Bitters, Old Men Papaya Bitters, Bitters, Old Men Prickled Pink Bitters,Bitters, Old Men, Roasted Macadamia Bitters , Bitters Old Men Peach Basil Bitters,  Bitters, Old Men 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 of 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: Honest looking red brown in bottle, slightly red gold in slightly oily body to it. Does not have the dyes and thickeners others use to color and give a false appearance and gravity to their bitters.

First Impression: Cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, spicy, aromatic and full of promise.

Taste: Cinnamon, clove, nutmeg/mace, angustora, cassia, gentian, ginger.

Drinks: Very much a brighter more distinct Angostura (the company ) type bitters with a nod to Peychauds thrown in. Very nice with whiskies or rum drinks in general. Makes for a spicy Pink Gin with a twist too.

Bottle: Clear glass old-style bottle with built in glass eyedropper with attractive graphics on paper labels (which are rather difficult  to read – tiny fonts).

Other: They use local ingredients whenever possible. . .

Final Thoughts: Nicely done bitter that is a refreshing alternative to the usual suspects but close enough to the big boys that it does not require a lot of imagination or risk to use in a cocktail. 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