We’ve covered cocktail bitters overall in the past, in which we discussed the category itself, and how bitters can play such an important role in a well crafted cocktail. When I first was getting into cocktails, and started realizing the importance of bitters, Angostura bitters was obviously the product which I was using, primarily because it was the only product I could find. With a little more effort I was able to locate a bottle of Peychaud’s bitters, but since they really weren’t called for very much they weren’t something I used very much. Orange bitters on the other hand, were a style of bitters which I saw listed as an ingredient for a lot of different cocktails in the old books I was researching, but try as I might I couldn’t find any.
Thinking that it was simply because I wasn’t “in the business”, I made a point of asking various bartenders if they had any orange bitters. This usually resulted in simply confusing the bartenders, and it would later become clear to me that this was because they were barely aware of Angostura bitters, much less the various other bitters which were once in common use. I do remember however one time when I was at a TGIFriday’s, and saw on the menu that they were serving their “Rob Roy”s with orange bitters. Finally! I thought, I might be able to find out where I could acquire some. Asking the bartender about it, he replied that they actually made it themselves. Wow! With hesitation I asked him if it might be possible to get the recipe.
“Sure, we simply throw some orange peels into a jar of Angostura and let it set for a while.” Fortunately by that time, I knew that this was NOT the way to make orange bitters.
Over time, and as I got better plugged into the “cocktail enthusiast” community, I discovered that I wasn’t alone in my quest for orange bitters. It’s amazing how in the pre, and early, web days information was so much more difficult to discover then it is today. Word eventually started getting out that there was a company in New York called “Fee Brothers” who apparently still made orange bitters. But their distribution was rather limited, and I couldn’t find any further information about them. Eventually I was able to get a phone number, and called them up and ordered a case of their orange bitters, along with their aromatic, peach, and mint bitters as well. Since by this time I had discovered a few bartenders around the city who were equally anxious to give orange bitters a try, I quickly distributed all of the bottles, keeping only a couple of them for myself.
Then I ran across “The Book Of Bourbon” by Gary Regan, in which he published the recipe for “Regan’s Orange Bitters #4”, I quickly acquired all of the necessary ingredients, and made up a batch, samples of which I also distributed across town.
Because of the increased attention that bitters in general, and orange bitters in particular, were receiving, Gary Regan decided he should try to market his product. And after a couple years of work, he finally came out with “Regan’s Orange Bitters #6”, a formulation which was slightly different from his previously published recipe, specifically designed to work around some of the issues that the FDA had about his earlier product being too “potable”, and thus would have to be taxed at a higher rate if it wasn’t corrected.
I then started hearing about an orange bitters coming out of Japan, known as “Hermes Orange Bitters”, but try as I might, even in the new internet era, this product could not be found for sale anywhere. I was able to finally acquire a bottle of it by way of a friend of a friend who happened to be traveling to Japan, and knew where he could physically purchase it.
More recently, I became aware of a company in Germany (The Bitter Truth) which was making several of their own bitters. Unlike Hermes, they had a website, and knew how to use it. I quickly ordered one of everything that they had. What with international shipping and all, it was a tad expensive, but once I got the product I realized that it was well worth it.
In these days of increasing awareness of classic cocktails, the visibility of bitters is constantly increasing. In almost every major city you can find “one of those bars” where they pride themselves on the array of bitters that they might have available, and if you are lucky they will even have some bitters which they are making themselves as well. The problem however is that while you might be able to find such bars, from a purely numerical standpoint, they are still in the minority. The vast majority of bartenders know little of bitters beyond that funny little bottle with the oversized label, which they “might” know a couple of cocktails which they are supposed to be used in.
Angostura bitters is everywhere, and yet at the same time it is almost invisible. I recall recently staying at a “hip and trendy” hotel, and asking the bartender for a Manhattan. Not only did she not know what a Manhattan was, but after telling her the recipe, she confessed that she didn’t think she had any “angostura bitters” behind the bar. I quickly stepped behind the bar, and just as quickly showed her where the bottle was. “Oh! That’s what that’s used for”. While this was an extreme situation, I wouldn’t be surprised if there were many other bars across the country where a very similar drama could be played out.
Part of the problem is that while Angostura bitters might be ubiquitous, they still aren’t well understood by the majority of bartenders (or customers) out there. While there might be pockets of aficionados who can sing the praises of bitters, until the level of awareness rises to a point where there is a perceived value in both availability and diversity of bitters, it will always be seen as a “nitch” craft.
And this is where the new Angostura orange bitters come into play. It is their plan to have their new product available in all of the retail locations where their traditional bitters (which should perhaps now be referred to as “aromatic bitters”, to differentiate them from “orange bitters”) are being sold. In other words (as far as the US is concerned) virtually everywhere, regardless if what they are used for is actually known.
I predict that just the broad availability, and hence visibility, of this product will by its very nature raise awareness of bitters in the minds of both bartenders and customers. This means that more bartenders will (hopefully) look at bitters in a new light, and begin to understand how to use them properly. Which will mean more bitters in use, which will mean more bitters sold, as well as bars stocking a variety of bitters, since they will now know that certain bitters work better in certain cocktails.
But the real question of course is how do they taste?
When Angostura first started thinking about coming out with orange bitters, they did what at the time seemed like the natural thing. They soaked some orange peels in a jar of Angostura. As I’ve indicated above, this approach while sounding reasonable doesn’t result in something you could actually use “as” orange bitters. They quickly saw the folly of that approach and went back to the drawing board and started working up a recipe from scratch. I had a chance to sample some prototypes almost a year ago, and they were labeled 82, and 83, which shows you the number of permutations they had been up to by then, hard to say how many further variations they attempted before settling on the final recipe. It does taste pretty similar to what I had sampled, so I expect they didn’t need to go very much further.
To understand how their new product stacks up, it is perhaps necessary to compare it to the other brands of orange bitters on the market. Fee’s was first, and it has a decidedly sweeter nature, and simpler structure overall. It works well in many cocktails, and is decidedly different in character from normal Angostura. Next is Regan’s Orange Bitters #6, it is decidedly more bitter and astringent than Fee’s. Its complexity is fairly subtle, with certain savory notes standing out above some of the others. Then we have Hermes, which has a rather robust flavor with some additional notes to it which help to round out the flavor. Lastly we have The Bitter Truth, which has a similar robustness as Hermes does, but with slightly more spiciness and a slightly sweeter finish.
Angostura orange bitters strikes me as being the best balanced of the group, with a depth and robustness which reflects the heritage of Angostura aromatic bitters. There is a definite orange character which is indicative of this style, as well as the various supporting spices which finish off the flavor. Angostura is closer in overall character to that of Hermes and The Bitter Truth, than it is to either Fees or Regans.
Each of these orange bitters has some distinctly different characteristics, and as such I feel each has a place in the repertoire of the craft mixologist. The Martini is a great way to see some of these differences. Fees, Regans, and Angostura illustrate three fairly distinctly different styles of orange bitters, and used in a Martini (I of course use a 3 to 1 ratio of gin to vermouth) these differences can be fairly easily seen. One thing I noticed right away, is that while I will use a good strong dose of Angostura aromatic bitters in my Old Fashioneds and Manhattans, and don’t have too much concern when dashing Fees or Regans into my Martinis, with Angostura orange bitters you need to be a little more cautious about its use in something as crisp as a Martini, or it will quickly be overpowered.
So keep an eye out for Angostura orange bitters at a store shelf near you, and then dust off some of those old cocktail books you hopefully have lying around and give some of those recipes which call for orange bitters another test drive.
