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 Celery Bitters , Scrappy’s Chocolate Bitters, Scrappy’s Grapefruit Bitters,Scrappy’s Lavender Bitters, and Scrappy’s Orange Bitters .

Appearance: Clear with gold tint, appropriately slightly oily body to it makes it easy to use without over doing it. Does not have the dyes others use to color to darken their bitters and hence has a very natural look. 

First Impression: Very much a lime skin and oils rather than lime flowers/blossoms smell, with a bitter almost alkali/dry notes backstopping the floral.

Taste: Lime oil, gentian, cinchona bark or similar bitter agent and a few other nuances mixed in with the lime oils. Imagine all the elements of a really good gin and tonic (without the gin) in a single drop. Finish is a puckering almost desert dry.

Drinks: Adds a very useful lime oil and bitters flavor in a very compact package. Made a ho hum gin and tonic really pop. Was excellent with every rum drink we tried and was very interesting to use on sugar cubes for some other drinks. Also quite useful to play with in a sours family of drinks. 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 0z bottles in gift packs and for easier carrying.

Final Thoughts: A really intriguing bitter to play with and a useful addition to any mixologists armamentarium. Highly recommended as something that you should keep near to hand in your bar if you want to come up with some serious new cocktails an to breathe some new life into the dustier classics. As noted before a 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 lime essence so well in a bottle.

Website: http://www.scrappysbitters.com