Bob's Bitters

Bob Petrie, once head pastry chef in London restaurants, established Bob's Bitters in 2005 and makes, bottles and labels his single-ingredient bitters himself in Essex, England.

About Bob's Bitters

Based in
Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England
Founded
2005
Known for
single-ingredient cocktail bitters and a recreation of Abbott's Bitters

Bob Petrie came to bitters from the pastry kitchen. A bar manager, Guiliano Morandin, asked him to make bitters that mirrored the botanicals in gin, such as cardamom, ginger and grapefruit. He went on to build a range of single-ingredient bitters, each meant to bring one flavor forward in a drink. He still makes, bottles and labels everything himself in Southend-on-Sea, Essex.

Petrie has also brought back a lost historic bitters. C.W. Abbott and Co. of Baltimore began selling its bitters in 1872, and they vanished from the market in the 1950s. Petrie spent about five years rebuilding the recipe with Jake Burger, working in part from a gas chromatography analysis of an old bottle.

Bob's Bitters questions

What are cocktail bitters, and how are they used?

Bitters are concentrated extracts of herbs, bark, roots, spices or fruit peel in alcohol. They go into drinks by the drop or dash, not poured, and a small amount balances the sweetness of a drink the way seasoning balances food. A dash or two is usually enough for one cocktail.

What are single-ingredient bitters?

Most cocktail bitters blend many barks, roots, peels and spices in one bottle. Bob Petrie's single-ingredient bitters each focus on one flavoring, soaked in alcohol for about five weeks. Because each bottle pushes one note forward, a dash lets you turn up a single flavor in a drink. His first bitters were made at a bar manager's request to mirror gin botanicals such as cardamom, ginger and grapefruit, so gin drinks are a natural place to start.

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