For the cocktail enthusiast, there is a special satisfaction that comes with building recipes using ingredients you had a direct hand in making. Since home craft distillation of alcohol is expressly forbidden by law, we’ll turn our attention to handcrafting bitters and shrubs for the home bar.
If you’re in an experimental mood and want to highlight some unusual flavors, try your hand at these recipes.
Bitters
Once sold and marketed as patent medicines and digestive aids, bitters are key ingredients in many classic cocktails, including the Manhattan and the old-fashioned. They’re essentially a infusion of bitter herbs (bark, roots, leaves) and other flavor compounds in a high-proof alcohol base. (The alcohol helps extract the flavor and bittering compounds and keeps them shelf-stable without adding any flavor of its own). A few drops will add backbone to a cocktaila Sazerac wouldn’t be what is without them.
The best known commercial bittersAngostura and Peychaudare practically household names, created during the golden age of the cocktail, at the turn of the twentieth century. Those recipes are fiercely protected and often use a long list of uncommon barks, roots, and dried berries not easily procured, so it’s best to just buy those off the shelf.
Aromatic Bitters (recipe from Chow.com)
Zest of one medium lemon
1 (750 ml) bottle neutral grain spirits, the higher the ABV, the better.
40 drops Gentian extract
1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
1 (3-inch) cinnamon stick
1 (2-inch) piece of fresh ginger, peeled and cut in chunks.
4 whole allspice berries
4 whole cloves
In a quart Mason jar, combine all ingredients and seal tightly. Store in a cool, dark place for 14 days, shaking the jar every other day to agitate for better infusion.
Run through a fine strainer into a vessel of your choice. Tincture bottles are my personal preference, especially for gifts.
Shrubs
A sharp, tangy infusion of fruit, vinegar and sugar, shrubs (also known as drinking vinegars) are surprisingly easy to make at home. They are refreshing and thirst-quenching, especially when added to club soda over ice in roughly a 1:5 ratio.
Some methods call for cooking everything down to a syrup, but I like the fruit-forward character of this steep-and-refrigerate method from Imbibe.
2 cups fresh, whole berries
2 cups apple cider vinegar
1.5 cups white sugar
Combine fruit and vinegar in a quart sized Mason jar and shake vigorously for 10 seconds. The agitation will bruise the fruit slightly to release their juices. Infuse for one week at room temperature, shaking daily.
Strain through a double layer of cheesecloth into a clean glass bottle.
Add sugar and shake to combine. Refrigerate for one week before use, shaking daily until sugar has completely dissolved.
Using the base method described here, you can experiment with a whole slew of flavor combinations.
Hint: strawberry + basil and blackberry + ginger are real knockouts.