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❓ What are bitters? How are they used in a cocktail? Amari, Amaro, Non-Potable & More
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 2 ก.พ. 2017
- Let's explore cocktail bitters, what are bitters used for and how are they going to make your drink better? Bitters are the "salt and pepper" of your cocktails, they're your spice cabinet for drink creation.
Some past references for bitter information:
Homemade Cocktail Bitters: • Homemade Sous Vide Cof...
Aromatic Bitters Tasting: • Exploration Series: Ar...
Citrus Bitters Tasting: • Exploration Series: Or...
Warren Bobrow Explains Cocktail Bitters: • What are cocktail bitt...
History of Bitters (2 part series)
• History of Bitters
Bitters Week:
• Bitters Week Cocktails
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ABOUT Common Man Cocktails (CMC)
Common Man Cocktails, inspired by Derrick Schommer's intimidation when opening a cocktail book, is designed to show viewers how to create some of the most common cocktails to advanced crazy cocktails and to look back at the classics of yesterday. Derrick has learned as he goes and has been actively creating five recipes a week on the channel for over six years, lots of content to keep you entertained for hours!
CMC will teach you how to make some great cocktail designs, give you ideas for new cocktails and introduce you to the latest spirits, liqueurs, syrups, barware and bitters. If you're looking to become a cocktail enthusiast or need new ideas for your bartending trade, CMC is a great place to start.
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Dude you just avoided me the trouble of reading an entire book. I subscribed.
thanks
This was really well done. I think bitters can sometimes be a little bit obscure for people. Nice.
Thanks--that was the hardest challenge, keep it simple to explain but complicated enough for people to be curious even further :)
WOW i was just wanting to learn some basic mixing bitter info, i wasn't expecting to watch a very entertaining video with great editing that kept me engaged the whole time!
Thanks
Thank you for this. I've been looking for a really good explanation for Bitters. This is very helpful.
Great straightforward explanation of bitters. I have used bitters but now I know why I use them.
Thanks!
Thank you 1st time here... came 4 info bc bitters were mentioned to aide with digestive issues/ upset stomach... I had never heard of bitters so I looked it up
Thanks
Thank you for this video! I was just in SPECS and I was asking myself this very question when I came across a section of bitters.
Awesome!
I just bought my first bottle of Angostura bitters to take my drinks to the next level. I'm very excited to get experimenting with it :)
nice!
As a teen, I drank a big bottle of vanilla extract my parents brought back from Hawaii...
You do get drunk.
You do get a wicked stomach ache..
And if you can keep from puking, You'll have wonderful breath...
and this is why they call them "non potable" -- sure, you can do it, but the torture of doing so often makes you think twice next time :)
@@cmcocktails
Never did it again, lol...
This is exactly what I asked my liquor distributor last week! Exactly what I needed. Thank you very much.
but...what did they tell you? Any of it match with my speech? :)
Damn, I didn't know I needed this so much in my life. Absolutely great, Derek :D I wish the Scandinavian countries would allow the sale of bitters outside the liqour monopoly stores, only got 1 aromatic bitter and 1 flowery currently, gonna get some orange bitters later on when I get my next paycheck (too big of a fan of flamed orange peel in my manhattans to pass up on it).
I feel a lot of bitters videos get bogged down either in too basic stuff or too detailed, and this was the goldilocks being just right, nice and balanced. Especially the use of different bitters was a very useful touch.
Also, will there be more how-to videos on making your own bitters, or do you have pointers towards any good recipes?
Love this video, It's just what I was looking for...
❤❤❤😄
Just tried rum old fashioned, probably could have skipped the sugar as rum is already sweet. The angostura bitters definitely add a nice hint of spices and more flavor to the rum, but doesn't dominate the drink in any way. Thanks for inspiring me to try bitters :)
No problem!
This is a GREAT video!!! I learned so much about using bitters. But to be honest, I've never used bitters before this video.
nows your chances to change that :)
I always enjoy my whiskey and scotch neat but I really like Old Fashioneds and want to start making them. I'm just using Maker's for the base, anybody got a good suggestion for a bitter that pairs well with it?
so... point of order. fyi.
the dropper top is designed to pull the same amount every time (usually 1 ml) all of my products have a recommended serving size of 1 ml. The reason the dropper doesn't fill all the way is because of the size of the rubber bulb. This is designed to pull a specific dose.
yeah, I think this was put out before I talked directly to you :)
Common Man Cocktails I figured, but I thought it would be good to share the info.
This was loaded with good info. The problem I have with shopping for bitters is that most sites use the same general description from the brand site. Some bitters are easier to use in cocktails, while others are more complex. But it's hard to differentiate those unless you buy and experiment with them.
is there anything you can think of, outside of trying them all, that would make it easier to make decisions? Anything I can do in categorizing / text that would help?
+Common Man Cocktails I've only purchased bitters from AwesomeDrinks. Short of just gambling on a bitter, perhaps you can tag easy, intermediate, complex bitters by flavor in a similar approach you do with creating cocktail videos. That's just a thought.
okay, I'll see how to work that
+Common Man Cocktails For example, the cocktail that Jen created based around Scrappy's Cardamom bitter...that was a complex bitter flavor profile to work with, whereas Bittercube Cherry Bark Vanilla is easy to worth with...in my opinion.
It's pretty interesting that in America, what we in mainland europe call "bitters" is actually called "amaro" (italian for bitter)- probably because of the influence of italian immigration and their tendency to bring with them their amazing food and drink wherever they go.
I'm dutch, we have tons of bitters (amaro's, in your case) that are drunk after a big meal, when having an upset stomach, as a nightcap or on cold cold days of working outside. Or good old fashioned drinking for the hell of it.
We would also classify our neighbour Germany's bestseller Jaegermeister as a herbal bitter liqueur.
I think cocktail bitters are descendant from "amaro" bitters, but that a distinction can definitely be made: there's two bitters over here for instance called Green or Orange "Pommeranz" with a long history that still come in little earthenware dashing bottles.
All i know is that i definitely wouldn't wanna drink a shot of angostura bitters. Thank you for coming to my TED talk.
Yeah, if it's a "liqueur" it's usually termed "amaro", if it's in a small dasher, it's called a "bitter", but essentially the only key difference being that an amaro is sweeter (just a bit, but not by much in most cases).
@@cmcocktails would it be legal/possible for me to send you some of these bitters? would they have to be non-potable? (to be clear, i don't have anything to gain from this monetarily or anything)
They have to be non potable yes, legally. But I don’t ship anything international anymore
I really like bitters! My fave is Angostura, but just a scant dash of Scrappy's Celery Bitters adds a special something to a gin & tonic. I'm fixing to go for a bottle of Woodford Reserve's bitters, though. I love me an Old-Fashioned, and who better to look to than a bourbon maker for bitters?
Thanks, great video! Just made a batch of rosehip and beetroot aromatic vodka/bitters
nice
The Bee's Knees with lavender bitters is one of my favs
ah yes, bees knees. Hey, you going to Tales of the Cocktail again this year? :)
I'm gonna try my best to make it and if so we will have to meet up again for more drinks!
Great info, thanks!
Thanks
glad to see lots of Italian brands there!
probably most if not all the bitter alcohols, yes
high school me can say from experience that homemade vanilla extact (dunno about store bought) is not only fine to drink id almost go as far as saying its good. Ive drank worse things that are meant for consumption
Thanks for the info!
no problem!
I like this guy, and I like this bar hmm
Can you replace liquears with bitters, like can you replace a orange liqueur in a Long Island with an orange bitter
definitely not, orange liqueur is not a bitter, it's quite the opposite. Orange liqueur is an orange flavored spirit (or infused with orange or flavored as orange) and then added sugar. Bitters add 0 sugar (which helps to make them bitter).
That doesn't mean you can't "fake it", but you wouldn't do a 1:1 replacement. For a long island iced tea, if you don't have orange liqueur, I'd probably add a dash of sugar and 1/4 oz of orange bitters (30ml = 1 oz, 1ml = 1 dash, so probably 7 dashes of orange bitters or so)
Great video great info
thanks
Very informative video! Bitters are amazing when you know how to use them. My old friend has been experimenting with them for years as a bartender and I love what he's been coming up with lately. Something to do with rosemary to thyme. Anyway, I don't know anything about them, so this video helps a lot.
A lot of bartenders are playing with rosemary, thyme, sage and other vibrant herbs. In conjunction with bitters (or made into bitters) they allow bartenders to craft a savory yet sweet cocktail that is unique yet doesn't require archaic hard to find liqueurs.
Very cool. I am a craft beer guy, but I've been trying to learn more about crafting cocktails. You're videos help a lot. I don't comment all the time, but I watch just about all them. Keep up the great work =)
That's great, keep watching and, when you can, hit the thumbs up. It shows interaction even if you don't write anything. Thanks!
Think of bitters as the hops in beer
You're awesome man!!!
don't tell me, tell all your friends :)
I think you are burying the lead here.
"If you are peeing blood, go to the doctor."
LOL, yes, I did laugh out loud on that one.
Hello, what bitters would you recomend to use in cocktails like the Manhattan or the Old Fashioned and similar ones?
Berg & Hauck Old Time Aromatic bitters would be a good play. Also, cacao bitters can work magic as well, we have ones on sale I'm trying to clear from inventory (just carrying too much stuff), here: awesomedrinks.com/collections/daily-deals/products/cacao-bitters-san-francisco-bitters
could you please tell us what are the cocktails we can use bitters
Just like most food can use salt & pepper, most cocktails can use bitters. So, pick a cocktail, the answer is "yes." For angostura bitters, you can always just use our recipe database: recipe.awesomedrinks.com/search/ingredients/?filter_on=angostura
Loads of great info!! I liked the jokes, made me actually laugh.
tyler pfaffe Yeah, these guys make me laugh. My favorite alcohol channel.
Thanks, I try to keep it light and humorous so people don't lose interest for the length of the video
Common Man Cocktails I am good with it. People on the internet have too short of an attention span.
yeah, and my goal is to get them to stick around as long as possible :)
me, watching this entire video knowing that ive only ever bought smirnoffs: 👁👄👁
very informative , do you know where i can buy that awesome old man bitters that u used in your 3-mile long island ice tea video ? you really semmed to enjoy that drink but im missing the bitters to make my own. Thanks for answering :)
I redesigned that in our CMC banger book a bit to adjust, I used Bittercube Blackstrap bitters. The guy that built the original bitters we used hasn't produced another batch since around that video :/ I even offered to find someone to make them for him but he just didn't follow up.
Be cool to do a video with say 5 different whiskys prepped the same way then add equal dashes of different bitters to each whisky then taste and compare what the bitters did to each one.
Is adding hot sauce or Worcestershire sauce to a cocktail done for the same reason as bitters...i. e. are they like a drink seasoning as well...I use a dash if mckormiks garlic herb in spicier charcoal filtered spirit-based drinks...I've always thought I was odd for doing this...sounds like I might be doing the same thing here...well without clear intent
Hot sauce is added for heat, no other real reason. Worcestershire is usually called for in savory drinks like the Bloody Mary but I wouldn't say it's going to give you the same impact as bitters. Most of those spices are going to have salt in them as well, that's going to interact differently than a bitter.
Salt often is used to curb some of the bitterness from drinks, making grapefruit based cocktails more "juicy" with grapefruit and less tart and such.
Do you know how to give a drink the flavour of pear drops?
Use pear?
Thanks, you got right to the point and made the video entertaining. I’m 16 and interested in bar tending and mixology. So I’ve been experimenting with mixing bitters with sodas, fruit juices, etc to create a non alcoholic drink that has sophisticated flavor. Do you know of any non alcoholic drinks that use bitters?
I don't know much about non-alcoholic drinks, sorry, but you can use bitters to create your own non-alcoholic drinks, usually ones with carbonation come out well, but nothing to stop you from flavor pairing with other juices like pineapple juice, etc.
I would also consider syrups and such like orgeat, falernum, passion fruit and, of course, grenadine. But, pairing a passion fruit syrup with a juice and some bitters will probably go a long way to extending out your options.
Common Man Cocktails thanks so much
Love this channel! Looking to buy some orange bitters, What is your favorite orange bitters? Top three if you could in order. Thank you so much
God, I don't recall, I don't put that much thought into them enough to 'rank', I just use 'em and be happy about it. We did an orange bitter blind tasting which may help, have you seen that? th-cam.com/video/ScIghSyP_hs/w-d-xo.html
Just get something like bittercube, berg & hauck or scrappys, everyone has slight uniqueness no doubt, but they all bring citrus.
Common Man Cocktails awesome thank you!
lol.. these bitters really tie a drink together. #thedude
yes! :)
Can you make a alcohol free bitter? How?
probably, you can make vegan hamburgers, I'm sure you can make a bitter without alcohol :) But as to how...I don't know, never had any reason to learn. lol
Hi Derrick. I really enjoy watching your cocktail channel. I would like to ask you a question on naming a cocktail and registered it. So everybody knows that you invented the cocktail.
registering a cocktail is silly, much like the next action hero, movie star or viral youtube sensation, a cocktail design has merit based on its word of mouth and popularity. You can try to force that through legal means, I guess, but nobody is going to care. They won't make your cocktail unless they've had it and love it. So, it's a waste of time and effort.
Haven't been experimenting with anything other than vodka and rum, but now I'm gonna dip into whiskey. Do you still recommend the buffalo trace brand?
yup!
Common Man Cocktails just bought a bottle just waiting on my bitters and jigger to come in from awesomedrinks.com
I want to expand my bitters options at home. I have Aromatic and Orange, and I am looking for another versatile one in the citrus category. Any recommendations between Grapefruit, Lemon, Lime or a Citrus blend (such as from Hella Bitters)?
Personally, if you want to get a bit of everything, I suggest Trinity Bitters by Bittercube, I use it for everything. awesomedrinks.com/products/bittercube-trinity-bitters
Do you use bitters primarily to add balance and give a specific direction to cocktails, or do you ever tinker and experiment with a wide variety bitters on a blank canvas simple cocktail to see what works?
like using different ones in a daiquiri and see the impact?
Yes exactly
the bartender at my tiny town rural bar didn't know what bitters were tonight but i know they have them there because i've gotten them! (i just get them in soda water.) is there something else i could say besides bitters that maybe she would know?
Gotta be straight up, if a bartender doesn't know what bitters are then there isn't a secondary word you can use to make them understand it... it's like asking someone "what's another word for pencil so I can ask the artist what type of pencil they use." -- seems like something you should educate them on, however, I believe if they don't know what bitters are they're probably not working at a "real" cocktail bar.
I am 100% sure I can find a bartender at Buffalo Wild Wings that has no idea what cocktail bitters are if I ask around enough, but I also don't expect them to know. 80% of what they do is sling beers and the rest of the time making the special house cocktail menu of candy cane martini's or bloody orange martini's and other vodka drinks that fit whatever season it is :)
Derrick, can you recommend a bitter to take some of the sweetness off a Black Russian? I was thinking like a chocolate or a mole. There's so much out there to choose from and they aren't cheap!
well, first I'd recommend using a better coffee liqueur, that's my first instinct. If you're using Kahlua, you're probably finding out it's way too sweet. An aromatic bitter is probably fine, chocolate would work (I'd suggest Scrappy's Chocolate because it's not sweet). Many mole's will also bring a bit of spice, if you're into that then all is good. Could also try Jerry Thomas bitters, which work well if you're doing any classic cocktails as well.
What about Underberg? Is it considered a bitter and is it good in cocktails?
probably, I think I have those around somewhere in the bar
Thank you, very informative. Maybe this is splitting too many hairs but what is the difference between a liqueur like Green Chartreuse and a amaro like fernet-branca? Does it simply come down to the taste being more bitter?
You cannot generalize it to that degree of bitterness because they're entirely different recipes. Imagine trying to compare "which is better, Apple Crisp or Apple Pie" -- both are pie-like creations and both contain apple. But, some people will like one over the other (I'm an apple crisp guy myself).
An amaro or general 'bitter liqueur' is a recipe that's focused on all the flavors within the bottle, not just the fact that it has bitterness on the tongue. That means each will give their own impact on a cocktail and you will find substitution (in general) creates an entirely different flavor profile. Another analogy could be for a sweet liqueur, imagine saying "use orange liqueur, or apple liqueur or vanilla liqueur, they're all levels of sweet" in your drink. They are all sweet, and some at different degrees, but they all would impact your cocktail in dramatic ways.
In the case of Green Chartreuse, you're going to get more earthy flavor, more "green" herbs and a mild anise back-end flavor that has a touch of bitter bite. Fernet is Eucalyptus, Menthol and that general "cold medicine" taste alongside a fairly intense bitter finish.
@@cmcocktails Thank you!
Have you ever tried using bitters in Bloody Mary cocktails? If so, did they blend well together? If not, would that be something you'd consider experimenting with on the show?
Did it, got Scrappy's bitters on board to do a giveaway for a bloody mary contest, the entire playlist is here: th-cam.com/play/PL5zfqDuFro3zZx6pPC8xLhcGOZCdnqOk1.html
Thanks for letting me know! I'll definitely watch the playlist.
love from Finland! can you please get decent shipping costs here? 😂
I would like this too :D
what is the bitter with the eagle on it
the big bottle? Fernet Branca?
Scappys lavendar bitters!
Pepsi with a dash of bitters with a meal is how I usually enjoy bitters
Which Bitters ??
@@piscestraits-rule3738 Angostura bitters
Hello, I want to pick up some bitters for various drinks. Can you help me narrow down the search? There are so many types and brands out there. Thanks.
Sure thing, what's your favorite base-spirit to use in cocktails? And, do you have a price point you need to stay within?
I typically use tequila or gin as my bases. As for the price range, I do not really mind.
Hella Bitters Citrus is nice (has a bit more citrus meets clove), for gins I usually fall back to Bittercube Trinity Bitters because it brings 3 of their flavors together (cherry bark vanilla, orange bitters and bolivar bitters) so it comes out like cherry, vanilla, chamomile and jasmine all with a citrus backbone.
Trinity also works great in tequila based drinks. If you like a bit more spicy for tequilas Bittercube Corazon is lovely, it's got some heat and some almost "mole" like flavor to it. Very Mexican driven.
Bittermens Boston Bittah's has a bit of the flavors of the Trinity bitters (without vanilla and cherry bark) focusing mostly on Citrus and Chamomile.
You'll find chamomile, vanilla, citrus, jasmine, lavender and other flavors work great for gin. Scrappy's Lavender bitters can fall into that category but it's pretty potent and dominating. I'd pick their Cardamom bitters over Lavender for versatility in more cocktails.
Thank you for the quick replies! I will look at obtaining those two to start with.
thanks great information
no problem
What bitters do u recommend for a old fashion?
Berg & Hauck Old Fashioned Aromatics
oh, try Scrappy's Chocolate Bitters for something more unique
Campari lol
pimms is an amaro? its sweet though..?
yep, and it's also bitter, taste it on its own, it's got sweet and bitter. Definitely less bite / bitter than, say, Campari, but close to that of Aperol.
CAWKTAILS
That bar has like $5000 worth of alcohol lol. 🍷
probably more than that :)
Why does the picture go yo black and white on close ups? Just curious.
Because I liked it, it was different and unusual from our standard videos so I set the shot to black and white to add variety. #artistic :)
Common Man Cocktails .Okey Dokey!
Haha damn i love the intro
thanks
My local liquor distributor only seems to carry Ango, which I appreciate, but kind of annoys be me because they are H U G E and they have plenty of extra space to store a variety of bitters. They are the biggest liquor store that I know of and they are only 2 blocks from me. Anyway, they don't have orange bitters and I NEED orange bitters for this one particular drink my buddy created. Im'ma order it from your website if I can't find it locally within a day or two.
Sounds good !
i like to eat square things
I learnt about this many years ago as a student of Pharmacy. Nothing new to moi.
ok...well, then this video is probably not for you... just everyone else ;-)
@@cmcocktails I'd like to try making some of these up after so long, and a few video refresher courses wouldn't hurt.
Bitters from the Victorian Era and for treating tropical illnesses. I guess this is the quick method.
Thank goodness you did not make a "Putin Potion" with Russian Wodka
lol
is vermouth a bitter?
No.
it's a fortified wine
Yo Common man! Hit me up!
Did that tooth wack on the bitters bottle hurt 3 years ago?
dunno, sounds like a long time ago
@@cmcocktails my man! Thanks so much for writing me back. You earned yourself at least one sub❤️!! (I'll try trying to force my whole family to sub to you to bro they gunna like your vids)
thanks :) I try to respond to all the things, sometimes I miss a few due to how TH-cam displays comments in my dashboard.
Sooooooooo are bitters bitter?
yep!
Common Man Cocktails .......oh........
I see lots of dillons bitters are you in Ontario?
nope, I just used to sell them before they had a hard time getting them into the US.
@@cmcocktails I see
The Angostura Is a bitter but I think there is a cocktail with 1.5 ounce. So is it drinkable or not? Lol
There are two rules: government guidelines and what humans do. Far few people are going to buy a bottle of bitters as their core spirit for a cocktail or, let alone, just sit down with a glass of it. However, adding it into a cocktail isn't that unusual, even in higher quantities.
Government wise, non-potable is usually given to products _designed_ to be additives not liqueurs. Where a liqueur (even a bitter liqueur) is often combined with other ingredients such as..well...sugar and water. Some level of sugar is usually added to balance out the bitter (even if it's still super bitter like campari) or cut down to 40 ABV with water.
Bitters are not often diluted, however they are usually built with a base spirit which itself is usually diluted down already. But, you could use the same argument with vanilla extract...it's a non-potable additive yet there are people that will drink it straight for the buzz...
The drink you're probably thinking of is the Trinidad Sour (or a variation of this) with angostura as the core component: th-cam.com/video/KHzyOlKkEaM/w-d-xo.html
I saw another question from you but I can't seem to find it anymore (I had an email notification for it), maybe you deleted it?
Does it get you drunk by itself
dunno, we are grown up's here, our goal isn't "to get drunk" so it's a non-issue.
Common Man Cocktails nobody give af abt these weird flavors we just tryna get booted my guy
except all the customers that buy from our store and buy bitters. So yeah, lots of people. We don't give AF about stupid people that just wanna get drunk. We've done college and moved on.
Common Man Cocktails may you answer my question
if you watched the video you'd know the answer ;-)
Thats not bitter
Luke McEllin huh?
@@cmcocktails not in England anyway. Bitter is a dark ale with a thich head and no fizz like larger.
No idea what your trying to say... are you saying cocktail bitters are not bitter...?
You're right, sorry, I could not get through this...you're too all over the place for me, man!
that's fine, not everyone likes everything or everybody.
You need to try to keep your video shorter
this is shorter. You'll find most of our content between 8 and 12 minutes. It's as long as it needs to be to get the content out.