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Last Saturday I put up nine jars of single-note bitter tinctures.
These are each built of 1/5 oz of herb steeping in 3oz of 100° vodka. I plan to monitor them by tasting starting tomorrow evening and every day or so thereafter until each seems adequately bitter.
The goal is to get some familiarity with these and then use the experience to concoct more complex bitters (along the lines that DrinkBoy suggested in someother thread). When these are ready for tasting, I'd be more than happy to share them around, as I'm sure I have little need to consume or keep all of it myself.
Huh, I'm definitely interested in seeing what kind of results you end up with.
Ok, the saffron-blood orange bitters look like they are ready. I'm going to put them in the barrel for a little while. Anyone have any recs on how long I should barrel age these? I'm thinking 2 weeks to start.
What's the size of the batch? I'd recommend tasting every 4 days, maybe every 5 days.
I drained my bitters set this weekend. Very interesting differences between each one: almost every one should have its own best marriage to other more aromatic flavors. No sense that I tired-out my tongue, which is interesting. Not certain how exactly I'll set these up for tasting (maybe Perrier, maybe that plus a dash of bourbon).
I was looking for Amer Picon graphics to pirate for my homemade Amer 'Boudreau' label and came across the following site: http://gentian.rutgers.edu/ethno_drink.htms which y'all may have seen, but I thought somebody amongst the bitters freaks here would be interested. Specifically, it is a list of gentian containing 'bitters, aperitifs, sodas, digestives.'
Cool site sylvan.
I tasted bitters and tinctures from both PDT and Death & Co this weekend. They were excellent but no better than the bitters and tinctures produced by the professionals here in Oregon (ok, let me restrict that a little more, the pros in the OBG). I'm not sure what I expected, but I was pleasantly surprised to see that their bitters and tinctures are at the same level as ours.
Alright, a shameless bit of self-promotion, but I'm terribly proud of a new toy we got in this week: a two-tier, 40-slot sleeve, with "Bitters & Tinctures" cut out of a stainless steel frame. So I'm on the hunt for a few bitters thoughts to finish up the remaining unfilled slots for the vials. That said, I think it's time to begin the biters-sharing program we brought up at the beginning of this whole venture. Are there any bartenders on this site that have ample supply of one of their bitters to lend out 4 oz., & then at the same time take one of ours to use behind their bars. I'd love to carry some of your Boker's (duh!), Senor Morgenthaler, so perhaps next time your up you can spare some & take some of ours.
Also, how is everyone's barrel ageing coming along? I have to admit I'm behind, but I've been tempering my keg with fino sherry for the last month (as well as looking for a truffles that won't break the bank).
I saw the photo of the Bitters and Tinctures sleeve, looks fantastic!
I left you 3-4 oz of Boker's the last time I was up, is it all gone? I can't make any more until I pick up my herbs (and camera) on Tuesday. But if you'd like me to make a double-batch I'd love to contribute those.
I haven't even had time to look at my barrel. But sherry is a great idea for conditioning.
Oregon truffles are in season now Daniel. They definitely aren't as good as the european ones but they won't break the bank either. Someone told me that they spotted them at the Portland Farmers Market yesterday.
So has anybody here found catechu (black or otherwise) locally? Or chinchona/Peruvian bark?
Well, lay it on me! I've found cinchona online and am getting closer to catechu (acacia catechu aka khadira) but I'd love to see more sources, especially proven ones.
For everything else, I've been using Tenzing Momo. Great store.
Sorry, your link for 'here' didn't work. Where was that?
I've been trying to email Tenzing Momo to find out the difference b/n the 'peruvian bark' and the 'cinchona bark' but Erik's email box is 'temporarily over quota'. They should be the same: http://www.henriettesherbal.com/plants/cinchona-officinalis
And as entertaining as the ayurvedic sites are (vagina tightening cream, breast beautification spray) none of them have actually had bulk catechu (khadira) for f'in sale. I'm not quite willing to order from India. Might have better luck in the Bay Area - West Berkeley has a large Indian community.
http://www.kalyx.com/store/proddetail.cfm/ItemID/286620.0/CategoryID/13000.0/SubCatID/2855.0/file.htm
Thanks. Knowing the Chinese call it Er Cha helps quite a bit, even if I think the price is a little high at kalyx.
Lance, I'd love if you could spare 2-4 oz. of your blood orange-saffron bitters for my collection.
will do. I'll bring it by this week
Anyone interested in Wormwood bitters?
I was thinking about the emerging popularity of Absinthe and decided to get down to it's core.
I'm also working on rose and am falling in love with the smell of pau d'arco. Smells a little like sassafras.
Wormwood bitters sounds brilliant.
Take care not to get excessive thujone in a wormwood bitters. Properly distilled absinthe is under the legal limit for thujone (hence the reintroduction), but the essential oils can be deadly. You'll have to do some research to be sure you're not making poison.
Come to think of it, absinthe already is 'wormwood bitters' and is often used in cocktails by the dash, being very strongly flavored.
Good point sylvan.
I think I have the 'shake' version of wormwood. It's definitely not the nefarious looking twigs I have seen in Amsterdam head shops.
I'll check up on the toxicity though. I don't want any one cutting their ear off because it was in the way of an otherwise beautiful self portrait. (yeah, I made the shameless Van Gogh reference....what?...)
The worm wood only takes a few weeks to steep. I just pulled and strained it. Pretty potent bitterness units. I see why fennel/licorice is used to offset the flavor.
Perhaps some cucumber would be great with a few drops?
Miranda Green:
2oz. Vodka
1/2 oz. cointreau
three inches cucumber and 1/2 a lime muddled
1/8th oz. midori or 1/4 oz melon vodka (pops the cucumber out of 'salad mode')
2 drops wormwood bitters.
I think I'll be adding smaller amounts of it to other bitters recipes I come up with. It's aroma is real cleansing and earthy like goldenseal.
Pau d'Arco on the other hand...I know some of you are using it already. I made a tincture of it by itself and with a rose, orange peel combo. The later is going to make a cool old fashioned variation. Esp. with a rye whiskey.
I wonder how it would do on top of a pisco sour?
Or a French 75?
While Thujone is somewhat toxic, it's LD50 is about the same as that of caffeine.
You'd really have to try pretty hard to do some damage.
As an aside, most of the bitterness in wormwood comes not from Thujone, but from another compound called "Absinthin." And indeed, it is very, very bitter.
If you look through old bar books, (William Boothby and Harry Johnson come to mind,) you'll find a recipe for Gin and Wormwood, not to mention Gin and Tansy. Here's the recipe from Johnson.
Gin and Wormwood: (Use a small bar glass.) Take six to eight sprigs of wormwood, put these in a quart bottle and fill up with Holland gin; leave this stand for a few days, until the essence of the wormwood is extracted into the gin. In handing out this, pour a little of the above into a small whiskey glass and hand it with the bottle of gin to the customer to help himself. This drink is popular in the eastern part of the country, where the wormwood is used as a substitute for bitters.
~Erik