An excellent celery bitter, captures the flavor nicely.
Notes: One of a series of bitters from a relatively new company in Seattle Washington (although truth be told anyone other than Fee, Angostura,Underberg and Peychauds – all in business for over 100 years -is a relative newcomer). Founded by Thomas Miles of Tavern Law a couple years ago after making homemade bitters at the bar because of the lack of any decent commercial bitters (much like a few other small bitters companies).
The other bitters in the series are: Scrappy’s Lemon Bitters, Scrappy’s Cardamom Bitters, Scrappy’s Chocolate Bitters, Scrappy’s Grapefruit Bitters,Scrappy’s Lavender, Scrappy’s Lime Bitters, and Scrappy’s Orange Bitters .
Appearance: Celery seed brown, slightly oily body to it. Does not have the dyes others use to color to darken their bitters. Other aromas are suggestive of citrus, cumin, burdock and cinnamon.
First Impression: Somehow combines seedy, spicy and vegetal in a intriguing melange.
Taste: Very celery and celery seed-like taste with a heavy accent on the celery seed end of the taste spectrum rather than a lighter celery stalk taste, more of a root and seed taste.
Drinks: Adds a some very nice depth of flavor and a celery seed like taste without a lot of other distracting flavors that some bitters like to add. For a non-alcoholic use it is a lovely addition to your mineral water also.
Bottle: Clear glass old-style / apothecary bottle bitters type bottle with matching style of graphics on paper labels.
Other: They use organic ingredients whenever possible. Bitters are also available 1/2 oz bottles in gift packs and for easier carrying.
Final Thoughts: 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. While frankly the utility of this bitter may not be as much as some it is absolutely spot on as a flavoring and one helluva piece of bitters alchemy to capture the celery so well in a bottle.
Website: http://www.scrappysbitters.com