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. Make sure you remove all the white pith.

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.