Bitters for cocktails are an integral element of every home or professional bar. They are key to several cocktail classics like the Old Fashioned, Champagne cocktail, and the Manhattan.
For the last 10 to 20 years, a cocktail bitters boom has been stirring up the mixology scene. In 2000, the only bitters you could find were Angostura bitters and Peychaud bitters. Those are still the most popular and recognized bitters, but plenty of other brands and products are now conquering the market.
The wide array of flavors leads to many new twists and riffs on classic cocktails. You can recreate almost all old recipes and jazz them up by using bitters creatively. Celery bitters, rhubarb bitters, and chocolate bitters are just three examples.
But what exactly are bitters? How are they produced, and how do you use them in cocktails? Read our guide to learn everything you need to know about the world of cocktail bitters.
Bitters are the mixology and bartending equivalent of salt and pepper in cooking. They are the seasoning for your cocktails by balancing, enhancing, and tying flavors in a drink. Bitters are made from neutral alcohol infused with botanical ingredients like spices, herbs, fruits, flowers, roots, and bark.
These flavoring ingredients give each bitters brand its signature taste, color, and aroma. The recipes for making bitters vary widely, but common ingredients are cinchona bark or gentian root due to their distinct bitter note, zesty essences of lemon or orange peels, and warm, spicy ingredients like cinnamon, cloves, and anise.
A thorough maceration process helps to extract as much flavor as possible. The result is an intensely flavored, bitter-tasting, and complex extract with an alcohol content of 35% to 45% ABV (Alcohol By Volume), equaling 70 to 90 proof.
Bitters for cocktails are made of three main components:
A neutral, high-proof alcohol is key to extracting the flavors of the ingredients. In rare cases, bitter producers also use flavored spirits like aged rum or whiskey to create a distinct flavor profile. Alcohol-free bitters use vegetable glycerin as an alternative.
Cocktail bitters always contain a bitter base ingredient that helps to build complexity. In many cases, that's either gentian root or cinchona bark. Gentian root is the most common option due to its clean, bitter taste.
The plant grows in the European Alps and is used in bitters for cocktails, but also in bitter liqueurs like Amari. Cinchona bark, on the other hand, is best known for being the key ingredient in tonic water. Further bettering agents are wormwood, cassia bark, dandelion root, and Angelica root.
The flavorings are the main component in bitters. There's a variety of ingredients to flavor bitters, and most brands use a large set of ingredients to create more complex flavor profiles.
Aromatic bitters like Angostura often use a warm mix of spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and allspice. Citrus bitters like Regan’s Orange Bitters use peels of citrus fruits to bring bright citrus flavors into their bitters. Herbal bitters include coriander, sage, and cardamom, while floral bitters rely on lavender, hibiscus, rose petals, and chamomile. Fruity bitters use whole fruits to flavor the alcoholic base with cherry, passion fruit, or pineapple.
Making bitters is not rocket science. Usually, bitters are high-proof alcohol infused with botanicals. The alcohol extracts the flavors and aromas during the process. And the base spirit can be anything. If making your own bitters, vodka is a great choice. But you could also use whiskey or rum.
These are the steps to make bitters:
As the alcohol is high-proof, your bitters will almost live forever. So don't worry if the batch you created seems quite large. You'll have plenty of time to use them.
In case you want to make non-alcoholic bitters, the process requires fewer steps but a longer maceration process. A base of water and vegetable glycerin with a ratio of 25% to 75%. Add your botanical flavorings and shake the mixture every second day for the next 6 to 8 weeks; Then strain and bottle.
The exact taste varies for each product, but they all have a distinct bitter note. Angostura bitters, for example, pair bitter flavors with a mix of warm, spicy flavors of cinnamon and cloves. These warm, complex flavors help create more flavor depth in simple drink recipes like Old Fashioned or Manhattan.
Other, more specific bitters often bring a very distinct flavor into drinks. For example, lavender bitters add floral and perfumy lavender notes to cocktails, while chocolate bitters bring in a sweet and rich chocolate note.
Most bitters have a high alcohol content of 35% to 45%. ABV. That helps to preserve the intense flavors and even amplifies the taste. However, there are also non-alcoholic bitters that contain no alcohol at all. These are excellent for mocktails or if you want to flavor plain club soda.
Bitters are easy to use. Simply add a dash of bitters to your cocktail, to easily balance the drink's flavors while deepening the flavor profile. That effect is based on the idea that a dish or a drink tastes better if it covers as many of the five basic tastes as possible. These are sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and umami.
A primarily sweet and sour drink, benefits immensely from the bitter depth. A look at Sour cocktails illustrates this principle. A sour consists of spirit, citrus juice, and simple syrup, which makes it primarily sweet and sour. Adding two dashes of aromatic bitters increases the complexity of flavors and adds a distinct bitter note. To further improve the flavor profile, add a salty note by incorporating a few drops of saline solution.
This way of using bitters works best in simple concoctions with limited ingredients. Highballs are excellent for experimenting with cocktail bitters. A Rum & Coke enhanced with cherry bitters and a Vodka Soda flavored with orange bitters are easy to make and are much better drinks. You can also improve your classic Gin and Tonic with bitters by pairing flavors of bitters with botanicals in the gin.
But classic two-ingredient cocktails benefit from flavor complexity. For example, you can lift your ordinary Dry Martini by using bitters in the drink.
When using bitters to make cocktails, there are three different ways to incorporate them:
If bitters are regular ingredients, they're combined with base spirit, sweetener, and other ingredients like citrus juices and liqueurs. The drink is then stirred or shaken. This way of incorporating bitters makes full use of the complex flavor profile and deepens the flavor profile of a cocktail.
When using bitters as a garnish, the bitters don't mix as well with the other ingredients. Therefore, they only add a visual touch and an elevated aroma to the drink.
There are thousands of cocktail recipes that use bitters. Here are the most famous ones:
This list is by no means complete. You can write entire books about drinks using cocktail bitters. However, it gives you a quick introduction to how bitters work and what kind of drinks you can make with them. From there, you may experiment, discover, and explore further recipes.
Using bitters in soda water is one of the easiest and most refreshing ways to use cocktail bitters. You can either make a plain version, known as Bitters and Soda or "Bits and Bubs," or opt for the more flavorful combination called Rock Shandy, consisting of 1 part club soda, 1 part lemonade, plus half a teaspoon of Angostura bitters.
Both drinks are easy to make and super refreshing. The best of it: these beverages are tasty, almost alcohol-free, and good for your guts.
You can use bitters in many ways. By remembering that bitters are basically seasoning, you may use their aromatic flavors in beer, wine, tea, coffee, marinades, and food. There are no limits to how you can use bitters.
In most cases, bitters are used in small quantities, either in drops or dashes. This measurement may sound inaccurate, but one dash equals 0.92ml or 1/32 of an ounce. If you want to compare them directly: one dash is as much as ten drops. For a more detailed look at these measurements, check out our guide on "How much is a dash?"
Many people asked us whether it is okay to use bitters as ingredients in non-alcoholic drinks and Mocktail recipes. The answer is, that using standard (alcoholic) bitters will always bring alcohol to your drinks. So, if you aim for no alcohol, don't use alcoholic bitters.
However, looking at the legal point of view, in the United States, every beverage below 0.5% Alcohol By Volume counts as non-alcoholic.
With this standard, drinks like Bitters & Soda or Rock Shandy certainly are alcohol-free. If you're looking for beverages that contain strictly no alcohol, opt for non-alcoholic bitters instead.
Yes, there are non-alcoholic bitters available for cocktails. Most of these bitters are glycerin-based bitters, like alcohol-free ones from All The Bitter or El Guapo. They use a blend of botanicals to provide rich and complex flavors to drinks without the alcohol content. They might not pack the same amount of flavors as standard options, but these non-alcoholic bitters are perfect for anyone who wants to enjoy flavorful drinks without any alcohol.
Yes, they absolutely can get you drunk. The standard ABV of bitters ranges between 35% and 45%. Angostura bitters, the most popular ones, contain a whopping 44.7%, making it stronger than standard gin, rum, and whiskey, which typically clock in at 40% ABV.
However, adding a few drops or dashes to your soda water won't do so. Instead, you must drink bitters pure (not recommended) or use them as a base in cocktails like a Trinidad Sour. Then, bitters, like any other strongly alcoholic spirit, will get you drunk.
Bitters have a fascinating history that spans centuries, evolving from medicinal tonics to essential cocktail ingredients. Their origins trace back to ancient Egypt when herbs were infused into wine for their therapeutic properties.
During the Middle Ages, the availability of distilled alcohol led to the development of herbal medicines, and concentrated herbal bitters and tonic waters became common.
In the 16th century, physician Paracelsus compounded bitters for medicinal purposes, laying the foundation for their use in treating various ailments. By the 18th century, adding herbal bitters to wine had gained popularity in Britain and the American colonies. As a forerunner of the Old Fashioned, Stoughton's bitters were added to sweetened brandy to create a balanced, flavorful drink that was supposed to be good for your health.
In 1806, the cocktail was born, a mixture of spirits, sugar, water, and bitters. Bitters played a crucial role in softening the taste of harsh liquors in cocktails.
Angostura bitters, named after a city rather than the angostura tree, became famous in the early 19th century for their medicinal properties.
Thanks to innovative bartenders, a revival of cocktails and mocktails in the 1990s renewed interest in bitters. Today, bitters come in various flavors and types, and mixologists continue to experiment with new combinations, making them an indispensable part of modern cocktails and a testament to their enduring legacy in the world of beverages.
Bitters were traditionally produced as medicinal tonics to help with a healthy lifestyle. And in fact, bitters can indeed have some health benefits. The taste of bitterness triggers our bodies, which respond by increasing the production of digestive juices and saliva.
This natural reaction aids in the breakdown of food, leading to better nutrient absorption and supporting liver detoxification. Moreover, there's a fascinating link between our taste buds and stress reduction through the gut-brain connection, suggesting that consuming bitter foods might help alleviate stress.
Additionally, activating specific receptors in the mouth and gastrointestinal tract by bitter compounds can contribute to weight control and reducing sugar cravings. While moderation is key, incorporating bitter flavors into your diet can offer these health advantages and contribute to overall well-being.
Digestive bitters and cocktail bitters, although sharing a similar extraction process from bitter roots and herbs, serve distinct purposes. Digestive bitters are primarily designed for potential digestive benefits and are often categorized as herbal supplements. They are generally less favored and focus on the bitterness of the herbs.
In contrast, cocktail bitters are crafted with a heavier emphasis on flavor and seasonings, intended to enhance the taste of cocktails. While there is ingredient overlap between the two, digestive bitters prioritize their potential health benefits, whereas cocktail bitters are dedicated to elevating the taste profiles of mixed drinks.
Popular digestive bitters are amaro liqueurs like Campari and Fernet Branca, and other herbal liqueurs like Jägermeister, Underberg, Unicum, and Riga Black Balsam.
For cocktail bitters, there are many brands we love and recommend, like The Bitter Truth, Bittermens, Scrappy's, Fee Brother's, and more.
When you only had the choice between Angostura and Peychaud bitters, there was no need for categories. Today, that changed dramatically.
A wide range of flavors is available, and to keep track, we need to categorize them. Yet, some flavor profiles are so unique that you can't classify them. However, most fall into one of the categories below.
Aromatic bitters like Angostura are traditionally made of botanicals like cinnamon, clove, ginger, cardamom, and more. They often are used in classic Rum and Whiskey cocktails, like an Old Fashioned. But they also work well on top of egg-white foam of sour cocktails like Whiskey Sour.
Peychaud's Bitters were invented by Antoine Peychaud, a Creole apothecary originally from Saint-Domingue, now known as Haiti. After settling in New Orleans in the late 18th century, Peychaud crafted these gentian-based bitters with a unique profile. Peychaud's Bitters are characterized by their pronounced anise aroma complemented by subtle mint undertones, setting it apart from other bitters like Angostura.
Celery-flavored bitters have been around since the 19th century but with slightly different recipes. The modern take on celery bitters usually is based on celery seeds. While it may sound like a weird idea, their vegetal and earthy notes work exceptionally well when combined with citrus notes from a lemon. I prefer them in Martinis and selected Gin cocktails.
Chocolate bitters are made with cocoa and cacao. They work great with barrel-aged spirits, and I love to combine chocolate bitters with Rum or Rye Whiskey Old Fashioneds. The chocolatey notes also work great with vanilla and coffee aromas that, in turn, all work great with a good, aged Rum.
Citrus bitters usually are obtained from lime, lemon, and grapefruit. You can also find some that combine two or even all three citrus fruits in a single bitters bottle. The result is a very bright and complex citrus aroma.
If you don't know what to expect from floral bitters, think of chamomile, lavender, hibiscus, and jasmine. This group might be the most versatile category. Depending on the botanicals used, floral bitters can taste very different. They usually work great in Gin drinks and are often paired with a floral cocktail garnish.
You can make fruit cocktail bitters from all sorts of fruits. Because orange and other citrus fruits have their category, they are excluded here. The fruit bitters category is for all remaining fruits. Try, for instance, apple and cranberry in the winter or peaches in the summer.
I love the idea of hot and spicy bitters very much. They allow you to add a very well-balanced level of spiciness to your drink without overdoing it. If you try the same by using jalapeño or habanero chilies in your cocktail recipe, it can become quite tricky to balance the spice.
You probably wonder why we have citrus and orange bitters on this list. While oranges are citrus fruits, there are just so many different orange bitters that they have a separate category. These bitters work great in a Dry Martini but also in other classics like a Negroni.
If you don't know which cocktail bitters to choose for your home bar, I have these recommendations for you - of course, the classics ca not be missed:
First mixed by Italian bartender Joseph Santini in the 1850s, the Brandy Crusta is even older than the Sazerac, Vieux Carré, and Ramos Gin Fizz. It's not clear if he invented the drink at City Exchange in the French Quarter of New Orleans or at his Saloon called Jewel of the South, located on Gravier Street.
The recipe even made it into one of the most famous cocktail books of all time: Jerry Thomas' Bartender's Guide from 1862.
The Crusta cocktail is also considered a forerunner of classic recipes like the Sidecar and Margarita; Mainly due to its iconic way of garnishing. After the drink was absent from menus of many cocktail bars, David Wondrich brought it back when he included it in his famous cocktail book "Imbibe!" back in 2007.
You can make Crusta cocktails with different kinds of spirits, yet the Brandy Crusta is the most popular version of this category. Here's what you need to make this tasty brandy-based cocktail:
Making a Brandy Crusta is easy, let's see how you can make the classic recipe:
Classic cocktail garnishes, like citrus peels, cherries, or flower garnishes, are usually not that hard to master. But there are a few exceptions, and the Brandy Crusta cocktail is one of them.
To get this garnish right, you need quite some steps and time. So I want to guide you through the process of making the two main pieces.
If you want to have a decent crust. To achieve that, you need to start a few hours before the drink is mixed. So you want to think ahead and prep all your glasses in advance.
For this, take a slice of orange or lemon and rub it around the rim of your glass. Then dip the glass in white sugar to make it stick to your glass. Then put the glasses aside and let them dry to get a beautiful sugar crust.
Most of the time, to make a barkeeper's life a bit easier, a long citrus peel (orange or lemon) is carefully curled around the inside of the glass rim. Before drinking this kind of Crusta, you push the peel down in the glass. Otherwise, it won't be possible to sip from it.
However, the correct way to do it is to pick a lemon with a size just small enough to fit the inner diameter of your glass. Cut the lower and upper end of the lemon off so that it leaves you with a lemon barrel of 3-4 cm in height. Remove the pulp and put this lemon wheel inside your glass.
It should act as a watertight extension of your glass. Ideally, you want to use a small wine or sparkling wine glass for this. Get your garnish ready, grab your favorite Cocktail Shaker, and make one of the most influential brandy cocktails.
When bartender Todd Smith invented the Black Manhattan recipe in 2005, he adjusted the old recipe by changing one main thing: he used Amaro Averna instead of Sweet Vermouth.
His Black Manhattan is rich in taste, slightly boozier, a bit heavier than the original recipe, but also more flavorful. The subtle notes of licorice, juniper, sage, and rosemary make the cocktail special. -A delight for every Manhattan lover.
Quick Facts Black Manhattan Cocktail
A simple twist on the original. But an effective one. The addition of Amaro makes the cocktail more complex, with a lot more herbal bitterness.
The black variation of the classic Manhattan not only swaps in Amaro Averna for Sweet Vermouth. Todd Smith also added extra cocktail bitters. So here's the list of ingredients for a Black Manhattan cocktail, including the classy garnish:
By the way, if you don't have Averna at home and can't find it in a store, you can replace it with a similar Amaro. Ramazzotti and Amaro Meletti are great substitutes for Amaro Averna. But if you have neither, there are some more options. Here you can find the best substitutes for Averna.
The traditional recipe uses regular Angostura Aromatic Bitters to add depth to the cocktail. In this Black Manhattan variation, Amaro Averna adds another complex layer of flavor, rounded off beautifully with the help of orange cocktail bitters.
For orange cocktail bitters, there are some superb choices available. I recommend using Angostura orange bitters or Regan's orange bitters No.6. Both are premium quality and bring a delicate fruity orange flavor to the drink.
The Black Manhatten consists of alcoholic ingredients only and, as such, is prepared in a mixing glass and served without ice - straight up. Two things are important here:
For the first part, make sure you fill your mixing glass with plenty of ice cubes. Then stir for 20 to 25 seconds to chill the drink and water it down just enough. That also will help with the second because, after 20 seconds, the content of your mixing glass will be nice and cool.
For further help with the second, put your glass in the freezer or cool it by filling it with ice cubes while mixing. Remove the ice and the water before pouring. Plus, use a vessel with a stem so you don't warm the Black Manhattan with your hand while sipping it.
As I mentioned, the Black Manhattan was invented by bartender Todd Smith back in 2005. He has created this flavorful twist on the original Manhattan while working at Bourbon & Branch, his 1920s-style cocktail bar in San Francisco.
It didn't take long for the rich and bittersweet variation to gain fans all around the globe. The distinct herbal notes and the slight spiciness of Smith's version made the cocktail an instant modern classic.
If you like to experiment with the vintage classics, how about trying one of these recipes:
The Bourbon Sour is a specification of the classic Whiskey Sour, which is usually based on either Rye Whiskey or Bourbon. So the name basically only serves as a definition of the base spirit.
That may sound petty, but the distinction is very precise, thus, convenient for a bartender. After all, Bourbon tastes quite different from Rye and other types.
Depending on the choice of whiskey, taste and aroma of your sour cocktail change slightly but notably. A classic Bourbon Sour is definitely a sweeter version of the cocktail.
We have some excellent options of Bourbon Whiskey for a Bourbon Sour in our selection of best Whiskies for a Whiskey Sour. Our favorite Bourbon picks include the following three options.
Yes, we like a foamy egg white top for our Bourbon Sour. Yet, raw egg white in drinks is a bit of a controversial topic. Some love it. Others hate it.
The advantages, apart from that the frothy top improves the visual of your drink, are a richer mouthfeel, a pleasant texture, and a more refined result. The downside is mainly the longer mixing time and the fact that it does not fit every diet.
Thus, if you're not convinced yet, consider using a vegan alternative called aquafaba. That may sound fancy, but then it is just chickpea water.
The water from preserved chickpeas creates a beautiful foamy top, very similar to what you get when using raw egg white.
If you want to try it out or learn more about this topic, check out our guide about egg white vs. aquafaba.
There are some famous riffs on the Bourbon Sour recipe, and here are our favorites, all made with whiskey as a base:
The template of Sour Cocktails is extremely versatile, and you can basically make it with all spirits and many liqueurs, as well. Here are some rarer interpretations:
The El Capitan is a classic Pisco Cocktail with a similar formula as the Manhattan. However, having pisco instead of whiskey turns the El Capitan into an entirely different drinking experience.
Quick Facts El Capitan Cocktail
The El Capitan consists of only alcoholic ingredients. Thus, it is quite a potent drink with no way of hiding low-quality products. You cannot mask a harsh alcoholic bite or the funky task of a subpar vermouth. Quality is crucial. So, here are our recommendations:
There's pisco from Peru and pisco from Chile, and you can taste the difference. Since the El Capitan Cockail is a Peruvian creation, I like to stick to the Peruvian version.
One of our favorites for this cocktail is Cuatro Gallos. It can be hard to get outside of Peru, but we found a bottle of the more readily available BarSol is great, too. Both brands produce under similar conditions in the Ica Valley.
Generally speaking, pisco from Peru is more fruity and aromatic than its counterpart from Chile. If you want to know more about this, including why Chile and Peru fight over the origins of their national spirit, here's a guide on pisco.
Vermouth is a fortified wine infused with herbs and spices, mainly produced in Italy and France. There are two versions: sweet and dry - one red-colored, the other white.
For the El Capitan Cocktail, you need the red, sweet version. I like to use Carpano's Antica Formula. It's a great product with an elegant taste and the perfect balance of flavor. It's super versatile too, and a staple in every home bar.
Adding bitters to the El Capitan is optional, and early versions of this cocktail recipe were made without. Nonetheless, they do a beautiful job of bringing in complexity and balance.
Our bitters of choice for the El Capitan remains classic - Angostura's Aromatic bitters. They go together beautifully with the grape-based pisco and are the standard choice for other drinks like the Pisco Sour Cocktail.
Cocktails that contain alcoholic ingredients are stirred, not shaken. Since these drinks usually have a high alcohol content, you want to get the dilution right. So, to get the best El Capitan Cocktail, stick to these best practices:
The recipe of the El Capitan Cocktail probably dates back to the late 1800s:
Officially, vermouth arrived in Peru in 1859. A company with the name la Casa Teodoro Hart imported Cinzano Vermouth from Italy for the first time that year.
Historians believe the mix of pisco and sweet vermouth came up shortly after that. -That would mean, the drink would have been invented even before the first Manhattan saw the light of day.
Putting aside these speculations, the first written document referencing the El Capitan Cocktail is from 1924. It is the register of the Morris Bar in Lima - the place that also claims to have invented the Pisco Sour.
The name El Capitan goes back to the highlands surrounding Puno. When military captains made their nightly rounds on horseback, they often asked for a glass of pisco mixed with vermouth. Allegedly, that eventually led to the cocktail being named after them.
The El Capitan had been a favorite cocktail in the 1950s but disappeared shortly after. It only resurfaced in bars outside of Peru's borders with the rise of modern craft cocktails.
If you want to try more Pisco drinks, here's an overview of our favorite cocktails made with pisco. It includes recipes for
There are very few traditional Pisco Cocktails, only four to be precise, and the Chilcano is one of them.
Quick Facts Chilcano Cocktail
The concoction with lime and ginger ale is a Peruvian tradition of serving pisco.
Ingedient-wise, the Chilcano de Pisco is a cross between a mule and a sour cocktail. It takes the lime and the ginger from the classic Moscow Mule and the Pisco and the Angostura bitters from the Pisco Sour.
For the perfect Chilcano Cocktail, you should use large, clear ice cubes to avoid that your drink will water down too quickly. With a relatively low ABV, you also don't need extra dilution.
Use a fresh or only recently opened ginger ale to get that refreshing fizz - if your mixer is stale, your drink will be a disaster. Stir only very gently once you have filled your glass with the soda to keep the carbonation.
Also, make sure it is straight out of the fridge and ice cold when pouring it. In fact, since you build the Chilcano directly in the glass, all ingredients should be chilled. Best, put your pisco in the freezer for a while before mixing.
The Chilcano dates back sometime between the late 19th and the early 20th centuries. It's a drink of the people, not one created in a bar by mixologists.
When the Italians emigrated to Peru and founded colonies, they brought their customs and traditions with them. One of these traditions was an alcoholic beverage made with grappa and ginger ale, which they called Buon Giorno - Good Day in English.
When the Italians ran out of grappa, they discovered pisco. Since both spirits are based on grapes, they replaced their grappa with the South American spirit.
Apart from the grape base, the spirits don't have much in common, though. Pisco is way smoother than grappa, which usually has a harsh bite to it.
So it's no wonder that pisco became a fixture in the cocktail, and this new version quickly conquered Peru's capital, Lima.
Over time, the new version of the cocktail also got a new name. Because its color is similar to a traditional Peruvian fish broth called Chilcano de Pescado, it soon became known as Chilcano de Pisco.
Since 2010 people in Lima have celebrated Chilcano Week each year in January. Among other things, you can do tastings, food pairings, and the like.
Apart from the Chilcano, there are only a few more traditional Pisco Cocktails like:
But you can substitute other base spirits in various classic drinks for Pisco and create twists of them. Here, you can find all our favorite Pisco Cocktails.Â
Pisco is one of South America's top spirits for cocktails and mixology. It's a brandy made from grapes that can be either clear-colored or have an amber shade. Its origin lies in Peru or Chile - the dispute has been going on for ages.
It tastes a little fruity and sweet, and if you have a quality pisco in front of you, it will have a smooth mouthfeel. Some brands also offer slightly herbaceous notes.
If you want to know more about the grape spirit, its history, and the different types, read this guide about pisco.
Swizzle drinks are typically made with rum and served in tall, slim Collins glasses.
Yet, just like for sour cocktails, the base liquor can be substituted by all sorts of spirits. That's also what David Embury declares in his book Fine Art of Mixing Drinks from 1948.
The signature tool to make a proper Swizzle is the Swizzle stick. This nifty tool helps churn the ice and therefore cool the cocktail.
A Swizzle Cocktail is a drink made with a spirit base, citrus juice, and syrup served in a Collins glass. It follows a very particular preparation method where you churn with a swizzle stick. These drinks always contain crushed ice, making the churning-with-the-stick part a lot easier.
The Rum Swizzle is the original version of this drink, but there are countless riffs. So, the term swizzle doesn't describe a list of ingredients for a mixed drink but rather the preparation technique.
Although Swizzle cocktails are closely related to sour cocktails, their recipes and the way they're composed are more similar to punch.
The Swizzle stick is a bar tool traditionally made from a twig of an Evergreen Tree known as Quararibea turbinata or Swizzle Stick Tree. It is the one essential instrument if you want to make a Swizzle cocktail.
The twigs used for churning the mix of liquid and ice had 5 or 6 prongs at one end. When quickly turning the stick, these prongs help blend the ingredients.
Today, Swizzle sticks are usually made of metal or plastic instead of wood. However, you can still find some traditional ones made of Quararibea turbinata twigs.
Swizzling a cocktail is not overly complicated and is actually quite fun. Just follow these easy steps:
This process of quickly swizzling a drink chills a drink super quickly. At the same time, it also allows for aeration. Usually, these two things also happen when shaking or stirring a cocktail.
The reason this way of chilling a drink became so popular in the Caribbean is it's way more efficient than shaking or stirring.
At the time this method became popular, ice was rare in the Caribbean and the weather was quite hot. Thus, chilling a drink should use as little ice as possible.
The first written mention of swizzle drinks in the Caribbean was in St. Kitts in 1838. A few years later, there's also written proof about this drink from Barbados.
These early versions of Swizzle drinks were either made of a combination of rum and water or some sort of spruce beer mixed with rum and water.
Thus, it took until the 1900s until Swizzles contained rum, sugar, flavorings, and ice. Back then, people exclusively used wooden swizzle sticks made from Quararibea turbinata. In 1909, US physician and writer Edward Emerson wrote the following:
"Swizzle is composed of six parts water to one of rum and an aromatic flavoring..."
Ten years later, a similar drink from Barbados was described as "a sort of native cocktail, made of the ordinary liqueurs mixed in a vessel with cracked ice and sugar, and then stirred to a froth by means of a 'swizzle-stick'."
The name "Swizzle" most likely derives from its non-alcoholic forerunner - the Switchel.
A Switchel is a Caribbean drink, also known as Haymaker's Punch. It consists of water, vinegar, ginger, honey, and molasses.
The basic Rum Swizzle is the best-known Swizzle drink. But there are some pretty famous riffs like the Chartreuse Swizzle based on the herbal, overproof liqueur Green Chartreuse, the Queen's Park Swizzle, or the Bermuda Rum Swizzle.
The ingredients in a classic Swizzle are:
The Rob Roy cocktail, sometimes also called a Scotch Manhattan, follows the same formula as the famous drink from New York. There's one small yet effective difference, though: the recipe replaces Bourbon or Rye with Scotch Whisky.
The drink is one of the few classic cocktails made with Scotch. And let me tell you, the Rob Roy is a beautiful way to imbibe a fine Scotch Whisky.
The list of ingredients for the Rob Roy recipe is almost identical to the Manhattan but made with Scotch instead of Rye or Bourbon. So to make this classy booze-forward drink, you'll need:
It looks pretty easy and straightforward it is. Still, selecting the whisky is key and can be tricky.
Blended Scotch is the best choice for this whiskey cocktail because it usually is not overly peaty and affordable. Also, don't go for a whisky from the Islay region, known to produce intensely smoky spirits.
In a Rob Roy, this smoky taste won't work too well. It can quickly overpower the delicate flavors of the sweet vermouth. Hence, you want something that's smooth and leaves room for the herbs and spices to shine through.
Blended Scotch is made by combining aged malt whisky with aged grain whisky. The taste is typically smooth and well-rounded - just want we want.
Another common choice is Single Malt Scotch. They are produced in one distillery and are usually a bit more expensive. If you have a preferred bottle when it comes to Single Malts, give it a try in a Rob Roy. Although, also here, I don't recommend Islay Scotch for the same reason described above.
Traditionally a Rob Roy is made with Angostura bitters. But David Embury, attorney, and famed mixologist, mentioned in his book The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks that Peychaud's bitters are actually a better choice. He wrote:
"Peychaud, somehow, seems to blend better than Angostura with Scotch."
Today, both versions are common. I prefer a combination of both: one dash of Angostura bitters and one of Peychaud's bitters. If you want to use only one, double the amount accordingly.
Either way, in the end, the most important thing is that you use bitters and don't omit them. They're essential to achieve the right balance and complexity in this drink.
If you're unsure about the differences, read our article about Angostura bitters vs. Peychaud's bitters.
The traditional way to garnish a Rob Roy is with a Maraschino cherry. These luscious and dark red cherries are full of flavor, sweet, and a little almondy.
Genuine Maraschino cherries are expensive. So, if you can't or don't want to get them, make them at home with our recipe for homemade Maraschino cherries. Alternatively, consider using Amarena cherries. They have a similar sweet but natural flavor, are of high quality, and are more affordable.
As mentioned above, don't go for the fake Maraschino cherries - they don't add anything to the drink other than an unpleasant candy flavor.
Supposedly, the Rob Roy first came up in the 1890s, around ten years after the invention of the Manhattan cocktail.
A bartender at the renowned Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City is said to have thought up this variant of the Manhattan. -In 1894, to be precise.
He named his creation after an Operetta written by Reginald de Koven, which, in turn, goes back to a Scottish folk hero called Rob Roy. However, similar concoctions must have existed before. Only there hadn't been a name for them.
A bar guide from the 1880s published by Charlie Paul included one of the first-ever written Manhattan recipes. In this recipe, the drink is not made with Rye but Scotch.
That was probably not done purposefully, but due to the fact that it was a London bar guide and Scotch was readily available in England.
The Rob Roy is in line with many vintage whisky drinks from the early era of cocktails and mixology. Apart from the Manhattan, here are some more worth trying:
The template for sour cocktails is always following the same principle, and the Pink Gin Sour also plays by those rules. A spirit base is mixed with citrus juice and balanced with a sweetener, but adds a little extra and asks for a particular brand of Gin as well.
Carson Quinn, brand ambassador of Iron Balls Gin, thought up the colorful twist. So, it's no surprise that Iron Balls makes the base of this Pink Gin Sour.
You need Gin, syrup, and lemon for this drink, plus extra egg white and some bitters to create the iconic look of this delightful cocktail:
Iron Balls Gin is a beautifully crafted Gin from Bangkok. The small-batch distillery is located inside the Iron Balls distillery & bar. It's perfect for this Pink Gin Sour but also works beautifully in a Gin and Tonic with Fevertree Mediterranean garnished with fresh pineapple and basil.
Peychaud's are aromatic bitters, just like Angostura's. The latter is more popular, and also part of this recipe. If you want to know more about those two brands, check out this comparison of Peychaud's vs. Angostura bitters.
In case you're still not convinced but want that froth, try aquafaba instead. The chickpea liquid is vegan and creates a nice foam, as well. You can read how the two compare in our comparison of Aquafaba and eggwhite.
The preparation of this drink is similar to other sour cocktails. However, incorporating egg white requires an extra step: dry shake or reverse dry shake to get the perfect foam.
For a dry shake, put all ingredients into your cocktail shaker without ice and start shaking for 15 seconds. This step gives the egg white its beautiful frothy texture.
In a second step, open the cocktail shaker and add ice. Then shake the drink again to chill it.
Strain the Pink Gin Sour into a Coupe or Martini glass and garnish it with Angostura bitters and candied orange or a slice of dried orange.
As the recipe particularly asks for fruity Iron Balls Gin, it's pretty hard to find an equivalent substitute. Thus, our recommendation would be to opt for another Asia-inspired Gin.
For instance, Bobby's Gin brings in beautiful notes of lemongrass and cinnamon. Alternatively, you can also try Roku Gin. This one brings in a Japanese touch of cherry blossoms and yuzu fruit.
These two would create a slightly different drink but are great options if you can't get your hands on Iron Balls.
This Old Fashioned Samurai cocktail is a recipe based on Shochu, a distilled spirit that's very popular in Japan but almost unknown outside the country.
The traditional Old Fashioned cocktail is made with Whiskey. In fact, it's one of the most popular drinks you make with Whiskey, if not the most famous one.
Today there are many twists and riffs on the recipe with all kinds of base spirits. Twists like the Oaxacan Old Fashioned or riffs based on Mezcal and Rum are spreading more and more.
But before we get to the recipe, let's talk about Shochu first.
Shochu is a Japanese distilled spirit that contains 25% to 35% alcohol by volume. It's Japan's most-loved alcoholic beverage above Sake, Beer, and Whisky.
Depending on the production process, Shochu is either classified as traditional Honkaku Shochu or as Korui Shochu. The latter gets distilled multiple times to remove as many impurities as possible.
Honkaku, on the other hand, is only distilled once, leaving more aroma and taste in the spirit.
You can enjoy it neat or on the rocks, but there are many ways to drink Shochu. Besides common preparations with water, the spirit is also part of many Shochu cocktails.
The spirit can be made from more than 50 different ingredients. And depending on those, it is classified into different types. The most popular ones are:
The Old Fashioned Samurai cocktail follows the same template as other Old Fashioned cocktails. A spirit base is sweetened with sugar or syrup and flavored with a few dashes of cocktail bitters.
On the whole, you need the following elements:
The best way to make a Samurai Old Fashioned is by using an aged Shochu as the base spirit. That is actually a relatively uncommon thing, but there are some premium bottles you can use for this.
The reason to go with aged Shochu is that Old Fashioned cocktails generally are made with barrel-aged spirits like Whiskey. And by aging a spirit in barrels, the flavors will mellow and become smoother.
And not only does a spirit become smoother, richer, and more mellow by barrel-aging, but it will develop its unique flavor profile.
My favorite Shochus to use in an Old Fashioned are Suginishiki Shochu 13y and Nankai Gold.
Nankai Gold is a Honkaku Shochu distilled from black sugar (80%) and rice (20%). The distilled Shochu is then aged for up to 5 years and blended with other casks before the Shochu is bottled.
Suginishiki Shochu is an aged Kome Shochu (made from rice) aged 13 years in oak casks. The result is a rich Shochu with a deep flavor profile.