can i make my own angostura bitters

Equipment You’ll Need

• 750-milliliter mason jar or other airtight sealable non-reactive container made of glass or stainless steel. (Available online.)
• Mortar and pestle
• Vegetable peeler
• Fine-mesh strainer
• Soup pot, at least 2-quart capacity
• Cheesecloth
• Saucepan, 1 1/2-quart capacity or bigger

Finishing Up

After a month of storing and shaking daily has gone by, maceration is complete, and its time for the fun stuff—dilution and filtering. Without performing these steps, all you really have is a jar full of wonderful-smelling muck. The first thing to do is strain the jar contents through cheesecloth. Set aside the macerated alcohol. But dont discard the solids!

Put the solids in a 2-quart (or bigger) soup pot. Cover them with four cups of water and bring to a boil to infuse the flavor of the ingredients into the water and burn off any remaining alcohol. Let cool, then strain the infused water into a separate container.

The macerated alcohol that you strained needs to be brought down in proof or else it will taste and smell like Christmasy rocket fuel and all of your hard work will have been for naught. To bring down the proof, youll mix the two solutions (the macerate and the infused water) together to produce a rough estimate of between 40%-45% alcohol by volume, or ABV. If youre using Everclear, which is 190 proof (or 95% ABV), youll mix your infused alcohol with your infused water at a roughly 1:1 ratio to bring the 95% ABV macerate down to 44% ABV. Youll also add some muscovado simple syrup to the mix at this point to sweeten it up.

After mixing, pour some of the bitters into a clear glass container and hold it up to the light. At this point you have two choices. If youre happy with the clarity, congratulations, youve just made bitters! Slap on some vintage duds and get to slinging tipples.

If you start to sweat from all of the little particles floating around in your prized creation, then you can filter the diluted mixture a final time, either by passing it through a coffee filter or layers of cheesecloth, or the easier but sloppier option of letting it sit for a day or two until physics takes care of the remaining solid matter, after which you can either decant or use a turkey baster to skim the clear stuff from the top. And voila, youre ready to start making cocktails!

For the Bitters:

• 1/2 cup whole cloves
• 1/4 cup whole black cardamom
• 3/4 cup blades of mace
• 2 tablespoons whole allspice berries
• 1/4 cup cinchona bark (available at Kalustyans and Herbs of Mexico.)
• 1 heaping teaspoon gentian root (available as chips and twigs from Mountain Rose Herbs)
• 2 ounces Indonesian cinnamon (about sixteen 2-inch long sticks, or 8 full-size)
• 2/3 cup black raisins
• 3 tablespoons blackstrap molasses
• About 400ml Everclear 190 or highest available proof neutral grain spirit
• 2 Meyer Lemons and 1 Cara Cara orange, for peels added after 2 weeks

For Dilution Liquid:

• 4 cups water

For Muscovado Simple Syrup:

• 1 cup muscovado sugar
• 1 cup water

• Loosely mash cloves, cardamom, mace, and allspice in a mortar and pestle to release oils—just a few good bashes, not enough to pulverize. Add to a 750-milliliter airtight nonreactive container.
• Add cinchona bark, gentian root, cinnamon, raisins, and molasses and cover with enough alcohol that solids are submerged, with an additional half-inch of alcohol in the container. Store in a dark place and shake daily. Serious Eats / Zachary Feldman
• After 2 weeks of daily shaking, peel Meyer lemons and Cara Cara orange, tearing up peels by hand to release essential oils. Open container and add peels. Reseal container and store in a dark place, continuing to shake daily.
• At the end of the fourth week, strain the solid ingredients through cheesecloth and set the strained alcohol aside.
• To make dilution liquid, place solid ingredients in a soup pot and cover with 4 cups water. Bring this mixture to a boil for about 15 minutes to infuse the flavor of the ingredients into the water. Let cool and strain through cheesecloth. Measure the strained alcohol and mix with an equal amount of strained dilution liquid. Serious Eats / Zachary Feldman
• To make muscovado simple syrup, heat 1 cup water with 1 cup of muscovado sugar and stir until sugar dissolves. Let cool. Add 3/4 cup simple syrup to the diluted bitters mixture.
• At this point, you should check for clarity by pouring some bitters into a clear glass container and holding it up to the light. If you are satisfied with the clarity, consider yourself done. If youd like to remove any present sediment, either pass bitters through a coffee filter or multiple layers (5+) of cheesecloth and repeat until youve reached desired clarity.

How to make your own cocktail bitters | Oak And Age

FAQ

Can you make bitters yourself?

What can I use instead of Angostura bitters?

Why are bitters legal to sell?

Can You Make your own Angostura bitters?

This blog post explores how you can create your own batch of Angostura bitters. Angostura bitters are concocted from a blend of herbs. Spices, and other ingredients like gentian root, cinnamon, and cloves. The name “Angostura” stems from its birthplace in the early 1800s: Angostura, known today as Ciudad Bolívar in Venezuela.

Where can I find Ango bitters?

Next to the bottle of Ango (as bar folk call it) you’ll find at the very least two other bitters bottles with paper labels. These are Peychaud’s and Regan’s Orange, and together with Angostura they make up the holy trinity of bitters.

What is Angostura & Peychaud bitters?

According to the brand Angostura, Angostura bitters, the first to be bottled and distributed, were created by Dr. Johann Gottlieb Benjamin Siegert in the 1820s to help settle the stomachs of seasick sailors. Peychaud’s was used for similar health benefits in the mid 1800s in New Orleans.

What can be used as a bitter agent?

Bittering agents can include various edible roots, such as burdock and licorice root, and barks such as sarsaparilla and wild cherry bark . Aromatics can include everything from citrus peels and dried fruit, to herbs such as mint, rosemary, and sage, to all kinds of spices. You can even use coffee beans and toasted nuts.