The Secret to a Better Cocktail.

Few ingredients have as rich a history or serve as fundamental a role in cocktail history as bitters.

The origin of medicinal bitters dates back three centuries, traditionally used to cleanse the body of toxins and prescribed for a variety of maladies, most notably ills of the stomach. These highly concentrated tinctures – wondrous and obscure concoctions rooted in folk medicine – included roots, spices, tree barks, leaves, fruit peel, seeds, herbs and other botanicals, formulated and concocted by druggists and apothecaries.

During the early days of mixology, bitters became a defining ingredient in any drink that was designated a cocktail. In 1862, a drinksmith by the name of Jerry Thomas published the prototypical Bar-Tenders Guide or How to Mix Drinks in which he distinguished “cocktails” from other mixed drinks as those that contained bitters.

In today’s cocktail culture, there is an eminent appreciation of the classics – sophisticated intoxicants that have withstood the test of time, with each successive generation finding them as pleasurable as the one before. In the current wave of progressive mixology, as bartenders return to these time-tested formulas for inspiration, they have rediscovered the importance of bitters and how their predecessors used the liquid seasonings to bring cocktails to life.

The world of cocktail bitters bottles is a fascinating one, ranging from vintage apothecary-style droppers to sleek modern dashers – timeless vessels which have tantalized and whetted the palates of generations of drinkers.