Altura Aromatic Bitters

by Forrest Foster

As somewhat apparent from my last posting (found here), I’ve been experimenting with house made bitters. Partially following a recipe from Brad Thomas Parson’s book “Bitters: A Spirited History of a Classic Cure-All, with Cocktails, Recipes and Formulas,” and partially my own intuition, I’ve been infusing barks, roots and other botanicals into 101 proof bourbon for the last month.

Most advice regarding bitters production differs on the point of separate or simultaneous infusion. Some claim that infusing your ingredients side by side allows the flavors to “integrate” in a fashion that separately infusing and blending denies. I read a bluntly informative essay on bitters making written by Dan Souza for America’s Test Kitchen that answered the argument for me. Individually macerating the ingredients would give me the flexibility to blend and mix my ingredients to find a balanced flavour, as well as shorten or lengthen infusion times depending on the ingredient. Cardamom, for example needs only days to become unbearably potent, while Sarsaparilla needs at least a week to release its flavors.

Starting out, I knew I wanted to make a truly bitter “bitters.” Many commercially available bitters are highly concentrated in terms of flavor, but lack a true bitterness. I was inspired by the real strong bitterness of “The Bitter Truth” bitters. I knew I wanted to follow that route, but it wasn’t until I brewed a preliminary tea of gentian root and devil’s club root that I knew exactly how I wanted to integrate bitterness.

Devil's Club

Devil’s club is a fern indigenous to the west coast, and carries a heady earthy and dark anise flavor. Its root follows suite, but with a solid bitterness that I appreciate.

Gentian

Gentian is a flower found in alpine areas all over the world. Its root has a more delicately earthy, but strongly bitter flavor. It has a sort of focused bitterness that strikes you in the mid palate, and I am in love. Gentian is one of the most common bitterants in Italian Amari such as Amaro Dell’ Erborista, and I find it fits into the Amaro focused cocktailing here at Altura.

After a lot of experimentation, I’m happy to announce that over the last week I’ve found a blend of flavors that satisfies my bitter desires. You’ll find it has a distinct bitterness with the flavors of cardamom, clove, sarsparilla and devil’s club root.

Next time you’re in for dinner, don’t hesitate to ask for a taste for our new house aromatic bitters. Name pending...