So you probably already know Post Prohibition is all about handcrafted libations. We are currently in the process of making custom bitters, taking the craft of the cocktail to the next level. We started with a basic orange bitters recipe from The Joy of Mixology by Gary Regan.
You might ask, “What are bitters?” Bitters are cocktail seasoning, like salt for a soup. Back in the 1800’s, bitters where used for medicinal purposes. They were a potion of healthy herbs and botanicals. To some degree this is true. Try drinking ginger ale and Angostura Bitters when you have an upset stomach. It helps. Although, I’m sure back then it was a great excuse for pops to get a little tipsy while he took his “so called” medicine.
The first two cocktails, the Sazerac and the Old fashioned, were made with bitters. In fact the word cocktail used to mean a drink with any spirit, bitters, sugar and water. Bitters are bitter. However, when you add just a few drops to a cocktail they’re not going to make your cocktail bitter, so don’t be afraid. Bitters can really pull certain flavor profiles out of your cocktail recipe and bring a whole new complexity. Try a Manhattan without bitters, then add the bitters and you will see a world of difference.
Regan’s Orange Bitters Recipe No. 5
Allow four weeks to prepare this bitters recipe.
- 8oz Dried Orange Peel, Chopped Very Fine
- 1 Teaspoon Cardamom Seeds (taken out of their pods)
- 1/2 Teaspoon Caraway Seeds
- 1 Teaspoon Coriander Seeds
- 1 Teaspoon Quassia Chips
- 1/2 Teaspoon Powdered Cinchona Bark
- 1/4 Teaspoon Gentian
- 2 Cups Grain Alcohol
- 4 1/2 Cups Water, Divided Into 1/2 Cup, 3 1/2 Cups, and 1/2 Cup
- 1 Cup Granulated Sugar
Place the peel, cardamom seeds, caraway seeds, coriander seeds, quassia, cinchona bark, gentian, grain alcohol, and 1/2 cup water into a half-gallon mason jar and push the ingredients down so that they are covered by the alcohol and water. Seal the jar.
We dehydrated our own orange peels, it took about 30 oranges, but the freshness is outstanding.
Shake the jar vigorously once a day for fourteen days.
Strain the alcohol from the dry ingredients through a cheesecloth. Gather the ends of the cheesecloth to form a pouch and squeeze tightly to extract as much alcohol as possible. Place the dry ingredients in a strong bowl or mortar; reserve the alcohol in a clean mason jar and seal tightly.
Muddle the dry ingredients with a pestle or strong spoon until the seeds are broken.
Place the dry ingredients in a nonreactive saucepan and cover with 3 1/2 cups of water. Bring to a boil over a medium-high heat, cover, turn the heat down, and simmer for 10 minutes. Allow to cool, still covered (about 1 hour).
Return the dry ingredients and water to the original mason jar that contained the alcohol, seal, and leave for seven days, shaking vigorously once a day.
Strain the water from the dry ingredients through a cheesecloth. Discard the dry ingredients and add the water to the alcohol.
Put sugar in a small nonstick saucepan and place over a medium-high heat. Stir constantly until the sugar becomes liquid and turns dark brown. Remove from heat and allow to cool for two minutes.
Pour the sugar into the alcohol-and-water mixture. At this point the sugar may solidify, but it will quickly dissolve.
Allow the mixture to stand for seven days. Skim off any bits that float to the surface and carefully decant the clear liquid to separate it from any sediment resting on the bottom.
Measure the bitters; there should be about 12 fluid ounces. Add 6 ounces of water, and shake thoroughly. Pour the bitters into a bitters bottle. Store for up to twelve months.
A great recipe and as always a superb write up. Regan’s Bitters are rather hard to come by here, as most other bitters apart from Agustura and Bitter Truth, so I was going to experiment with some bitter recipies and this post will be of great help. I really like your suggestion of dehydrating your own orange peel. When doing so I assume you made sure not to have any of the white pith on the shavings, or does it not really matter? As we have several types of grain alcohol here, ranging from 60%, to 98.9%, can you please clarify what percentage the grain alcohol you used was. Once again great post and look forward to your reply and future posts from you.
Regards,
Paul
Paul, yes I personally removed all the piths from my orange peels. However, bitters are meant to be bitter so I’m not 100% sure this step is necessary. I did though because I think you want the bitterness to come from the gentian, quassia, etc . I used 190 proof (95%) grain alcohol (Gem Clear). Good luck! Let me know how it goes.
Is there a reason for the weird use of dashes?
My four week Easter holiday starts tomorrow, looks like I have a project.
Could you tell me what browser/version you are viewing my site in? I’m pretty sure the reason you are seeing my site like that is because your browser isn’t recognizing my typography plugin.
Just stumbled onto this site from an article i found in my Flipboard app. So far I am loving every bit of it. Fantastic work and you just got another daily reader!
Welcome! Glad to have you. Keep in touch. Let me know what you’ve been making & drinking.
I just made a batch of bitters following your recipe, and used orange peels dehydrated with the pith. The liquid has formed into a semi-solid in the jar (similar to Jell-O), possibly from the pectin in the orange peel pith. Have you heard of this happening, and do you know of a way to re-liquify the bitters?
Megan,
I have never heard of this. So all the liquid has formed into gelatin? How much pith was left on your peels?
I purchased dried orange peels and it looked like they were simply dried, chopped orange peels with all of the pith. Now I know that orange pith is full of pectin. Someone suggested to me that I try to heat the semi-solid bitters, but I am hesitant due to the alcohol content. I will probably just try a new batch and dry my own peels.
Yeah, I think that’s the way to go. Try a new batch with your own peels. Try and get most of the pith off too. Let me know how it turns out and how you use it.
I had this same problem. I used Gary Regan’s formula as a jumping-off point for making many types of bitters, but I have found that his method of steeping the solids in water after the initial maceration in alcohol causes too much solid matter to leech into the water.
I tried this for orange bitters and root beer bitters. The sassafras did not have as much trouble as the orange peel, but I currently have a large 750ml bottle of orange bitters which are completely unusable. Gelatinous and full of “wet diaper”-like matter.
I have since omitted this step of making a bitters “tea” with which to dilute the bitters. In fact, I’ve more or less given up on diluting my bitters at all. And adding burnt sugar to the batch is way more difficult than Gaz makes it out to be… try adding scalding sugar to cold liquid without it solidifying. That part about it “quickly dissolving?” Nope. I can’t even muddle it hard enough to get it to dissolve. All in all, I found adding caramel just spoiled the flavor/color/texture of my bitters and overpowered the primary flavor.
Not sure what I’m doing wrong, but would love to hear other people weigh in on this. Either how to make Gary’s recipe work more effectively, or other methods you use to make your bitters.
I had a feeling that the sugar part of the recipe might be problematic. It might be easier to make a super rich simple syrup and stir that in?
Another question I had, Is it okay to open the container once a day to press everything down again? When I agitate I get about a third of the matter above the water line. In hindsight the peels should have been more finely chopped.
Thanks
I’ve finally given up on finding a bottle of orange bitters for purchase. One internet search later and I’ve discovered your incredibly informative site. Tomorrow I buy a big bushel of oranges. Also, I might buy some blueberries and have a crack at the blueberry liqueur recipe; I can’t believe it’s so simple.
Cheers Michael! Make the liqueur it’s simple. The bitters can be tricky. If you wanna purchase a bottle of orange bitters go here. http://www.cocktailkingdom.com/category-s/50.htm
I would recommend the Bittercube’s Orange bitters.