Cocktail Bitters

Cocktail bitters are concentrated infusions of bitter roots, barks and peels, often with spices, usually made in strong alcohol and used a dash or two at a time to season mixed drinks. Many are named for the ingredient that gives the main flavor, such as orange or peach.

How to choose Cocktail Bitters

  • Aromatic or single flavor. Aromatic styles lean on warm spices such as cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg. Single-flavor bottles put one ingredient, such as grapefruit, out front.
  • The bittering agent. Gentian root, cinchona bark and quassia wood are the classic sources. US rules cap cinchona at 83 parts per million of its alkaloids in a finished drink.
  • Strength. Most bitters are bottled near 40 percent alcohol by volume, about the strength of whiskey, though it varies by maker.

About Cocktail Bitters

Cocktail bitters are usually alcoholic solutions of bitter and aromatic plant material, made to flavor drinks rather than to be sipped on their own. Common bittering ingredients include gentian, cinchona, quassia chips, rhubarb root and orange peel, balanced by aromatics such as juniper, caraway, anise and chamomile.

The Old Fashioned shows how they are meant to be used. A sugar cube goes into the glass, soaked with a few dashes, then a splash of plain water. Muddle until the sugar dissolves, add ice and 45 ml of bourbon or rye, and stir.

Federal rules have a separate class, nonbeverage products, for flavors and extracts made with taxed spirits that are unfit to drink straight. Regulators judge that by the formula, or by tasting a sample cut to 15 percent alcohol.

At a glance

Made from
Gentian, cinchona, quassia, citrus peel, spices, usually in strong alcohol
Main types
Aromatic, citrus, herbal, spiced, savory
Serve with
Old Fashioned, Manhattan, Sazerac

Cocktail Bitters questions

Do cocktail bitters contain alcohol?

Most do. Most bitters are alcoholic solutions, so the bottle itself is about as strong as a spirit. Recipes call for them by the dash, though, so the alcohol they add to a finished drink is very small. If you avoid alcohol entirely, read the label, since strength changes from one maker to the next.

Where does the word cocktail come from?

Nobody knows for certain. The word described a horse with a docked tail by 1796, and two years later it named a drink made from water, sugar, spirits and bitters. That makes bitters one of the four parts of the earliest definition, and the Old Fashioned still follows that formula.

How many dashes of bitters go in a Manhattan?

One, by the International Bartenders Association spec: 50 ml of rye, 20 ml of sweet vermouth and a single dash of aromatic bitters, stirred over ice and strained into a chilled glass. The Sazerac doubles that, with 2 dashes over a sugar cube and cognac. Start with the spec and adjust to taste.

Sources: US Code of Federal Regulations (21 CFR 172.510, 27 CFR 17); International Bartenders Association; Merriam-Webster.

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