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.