Notes: Fee Brothers has been in business since April 1,1864 in Rochester, New York. Along with being one of the few remaining manufacturers of bitters, they also are one of the largest bar mixes and supply firms in the U.S. and produce flavorings and syrups for coffee shops, restaurants, etc. This is one of the classic flavors of bitters widely used in a proper cocktail.

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 to 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.

This is one of the odder flavors of bitter with some historical uses- just ask Ted Haigh (a.k.a. Dr Cocktail), a cocktail archeologist and cocktail maven, who was instrumental as if not the father, the midwife of these bitters.

First Impression: Light floral peach smell to it with a hint of almond rounding out and providing a grounding or weighting of the peach aromas.

Appearance: Clear with a very slight orange tinge to it. Somewhat viscous compared to some (a bit thinner than the orange bitters but still resembling a light oil in some respects).

Taste: Tastes like a peach syrup or some sort of children’s medicine, but not as sweet-bitter almond oil balances out sweetness to some degree.

Drinks: Limited usefulness, primary uses are for cocktails almost no one has heard of or remembers (except of course Ted and other seriously hard core cocktailians). None-the-less, it is a required ingredient for some cocktails and an interesting tool in the cocktailian’s armamentarium.

Bottle: Simple paper wrapped clear glass bottle, with a flip top closure. It is distinguished from the other bottles by the brownish colored paper, brownish / rust colored printing and gold colored shrink wrap around the top and neck.

Other: Other varieties of bitters include: Aztec Chocolate, Cherry, Celery,Cranberry, Grapefruit, Lemon, Mint, Old Fashioned Aromatic (Angostura),(West Indian) Orange, Plum, Rhubarb, Black Walnut , and the Whisky Barrel series : Whiskey Barrel Aged 1 (2007) , Whiskey Barrel Aged 2 (2008),Whiskey Barrel Aged 3 (2009), Whiskey Barrel Aged 4, (2010),  and Whiskey Barrel Aged 5  (2011)

Final Thoughts: An interesting addition to any Cocktailians’ bar supplies and necessary for a number of vintage cocktails calling for peach bitters – May be useful as a experimental cocktail element to play with.

Website: http://www.feebrothers.com