Brief History

The history of bitters can be dated far back to ancient Egypt where the Egyptians may use to infuse a wine with herbs.  I won’t speculate here, but the first evidence of bitter combinations could be dating back to Middle Ages, when Pharmacognosy (the study of plants or other natural sources as a possible source of drugs ) started using readily available distilled alcohol and mixed with herbs & botanicals.  By the 19^th century thing changed a lot with the new concept of mixed drinks (cocktails) start rising in America.  The use of bitters starts growing up and taking their place in the industry.  

There are quite a few bitters known to exist dating back to 1806, but probably one of the most popular on the commercial side is the Angostura Bitters, created as a tonic by a German, Johann Gottlieb Benjamin Siegert, surgeon general in Simón Bolívar’s army in Venezuela.  He began to sell it in 1824 and officially establish his distillery in 1830.  Luckily some of the oldest bitters still around alongside with many new brands which offering outstanding quality and variety of flavours. 

But enough history.  Let’s concentrate on actual bitters and the vital part they play in cocktails sense 19^th century.

What are bitters?

In short, bitters consist of liquor flavoured with herbs and plant elements. 

The bitters are the combination and mix of herbs, botanicals, spices, roots, citruses, etc. with high proof alcohol or neutral spirit.  Since they developed way back before the cocktails, the bitters have such an established place in the spirits industry.  Many of you may notice a few of the most popular (Angostura, Peychaud’s, The Bitter Truth Company, etc.) in your local supermarket.

We can separate Bitters into two categories.  First, you have the Digestive Bitters. I talk here about Fernet Branca, Campari, Amaro Montenegro and Cynar, to name few.  As digestive, they are great after a meal. Typically you’ll drink them over ice or served in a well-chilled glass in a small amount to help you with your digestive system.

* Cognac is also digestive and rated as one of the best digestives. Anyway, is nothing to do with the bitters — just a fun fact.

The second category bitters Angostura Bitters, The Bitter Truth or Bittermens is the one bartenders and mixologist use to create beautiful tasting cocktails and mixes.  As a general rule, because of the high concentration of flavours the cocktail or tincture bitters are used in small doses. 2-3 drops to a dash (0.92ml or 1/32 ounce) per drink. 

Why do I use bitters?

Ok, I have to admit.  I didn’t use bitters at the beginning of my career.  I start working behind the stick back in 1995 but I was stepping into the world of spirits, and all I knew is just a few simple mixes.  After a few years working in live music clubs and bars gaining experience finally I got offered a job in a prestige hotel bar. Its when I discover the real mining of bartending and the world of cocktails.  I start reading books, experimenting with liqueurs, syrups and trying anything to make new cocktails.  My first bitter ever is Angostura Bitters.  I used for when serving classic cocktails such as Manhattan and Old-Fashioned.  The rest is history and many years of enjoying mixing and creating cocktails.

Going back to these days now I realise the bitters were not very popular in this period. But luckily in the last few years, the bitters have seen a phenomenal surge of interest, and they start making a return with a massive impact and start shaping the cocktail industry.

I love using bitters because of their beauty to transform any drink into something new and exciting.  They are just like the salt and pepper when you prepare a meal.  We all know a pinch of salt or pepper can do miracles.

Imagine during the summer when you have a lovely bubbly fresh G&T, and you add a few slices of fresh lemon and cucumber.  So far this is a perfect refreshing drink.  Now add few drops of cucumber bitters The Bitter Truth or Lemongrass Cardamom bitters Honest John.  Now you have a well-balanced mix with a more noticeable hint of cucumber or lemongrass.  You’ll never look back to the simple G&T. I can bet on this. 

Take another example. The classic Martini cocktail was turned to another iconic drink ‘Dirty Marini’ just adding an Olive Brine.  A fantastic cocktail on its rights.  Just add few drops from the Olive Bitters The Bitter Truth Company, and you have this Olive presence pushed to another level.

If you are not an alcohol drinker, you can still enjoy good bitters in your soda, tonic or lemonade.  Few drops only and you can have a lovely refreshing drink at any time.  Bitters are generally 35% to 45% alcohol, but using them in a small amount (2-3 drops) added to your soda is fine. 

I do love experimenting and trying new concoctions with one or few bitters.  The bitters, so you don’t need to go crazy on them. Just a few drops or a dash is more than enough.  You can go a long way with a small bottle of bitters used in the right cocktail and mix. 

In the cocktails world, the variety is endless.  When you know the basics of every cocktail the opportunity to shape it and create something new is endless.  With bitters is even beyond that.

I know I am repeating myself but remember, bitters are highly-concentrated, filled with the essence of various uncommon roots, barks and spices.  Think about them as your secret exotic spice, aromatic ingredient or citrus touch you must add to your cocktail.

Why should you start using bitters?

Let’s make it clear.  I am not trying to convince you to start using bitters. I merely want you to try and see the difference for yourself.  How many times you try a new food or drink when you’re on holiday?  How many times you discover something new, and you loved it?

Without trying you’ll never know the difference.  Start with something familiar or favour test for example. Do you like Grapefruit? Ms Bitters are offering a fantastic Grapefruit Bitters.  Maybe you love more flowery notes? Why not try the Lavender Bitters Honest John.  If you are a chocolate fan, you can try The Chocolate Bitters The Bitter Truth. 

Trust me.  Once you try and experience the power of the strong taste and rich aroma coming from this bitters you’ll be hooked up and keep going.  I want to say I have a favourite bitter, but it is so hard to place one in front of another.  Every flavour plays a significant role in my cocktails, and I love them all.  I start with Angostura, and now I have an ever-growing collection of different bitters.

Best way to taste the bitters is to add a few drops in clear water.  This way you will experience the actual bitters.  Try it in different proportions and see what’s work best for you and your drink.  Bitters not always are mixed in the cocktails.  Sometimes they are used to add few drops on top of the cocktail for a richer smell.  Sometimes they may be used to spray the glass rim for a developing a complex after taste.  Again, the options are endless.

Just think for a moment.  Did you ever have an aperitif before dinner?  If not, you should do.  The reason why you have this aperitif is simple.  Most of the aperitifs are with a slightly bitter taste.  The bitter taste is stimulating and strengthening the function of the digestive organs while awakening the appetite.

Should I make my own bitters?

Yes, why not?  Bitters are not hard to make and most of all; you’ll get to know more about the process of making bitters and what goes into them.  Also, you have to decide what bitters you want and for what you plan to use them.  If you are planning to use them for a refreshing, light and fruity drinks, you should choose Vodka as your spirit.  If you want to use the bitters in dark alcohol, choose a rum, a high proof rum. 

You can find many instructions when browsing the web with adequately explained steps on how to start making your bitters.  You can create aromatic bitters with easy to find more common spices, but if you want the more unusual flavour, you may need to look harder and see an online supplier.  An excellent place to start is Amazon. 

Who knows, you may come up with something entirely new and exciting.  And imagine when you have friends over, and you make them a nice G&T and add some of your aromatic bitters or citrus bitters.  You’ll be the best host ever.

Bitters all the way

During my career as Bartender, Mixologist and Consultant I had the chance and pleasure to try many different spirits, liqueurs, syrups, bitters and mixes.  However, I get excited every time I see something new, and I had the chance to try it.  I may have favourite whisky, gin or rum but this could change time to time.

One thing that never changes is the presence of bitters in my bar.  No matter how many bottles of spirits I have, the bitters are an essential part of my mixology.  I may not use them all the time but having them available is necessary for me.

I hope you’ll give a go and try some of the many unusual bitters available these days.  Just get yourself a travel kit or a small bottle for a start.

Enjoy and never be afraid to try something new.

One thing we can say for sure, is just how big a part gin can play in your BBQ, from refreshing drink options to a more direct role…

Fifty Pounds flavour profile – juniper, citrus, spice – lends itself surprisingly well to BBQ marinades. 

For lamb or beef, we’d suggest pushing that peppery note. Start with four parts Fifty Pounds Gin to one part extra virgin olive oil. Mix, and toss with one thinly sliced, medium white onion, two cloves of garlic – finely chopped – a handful of chopped parsley and a teaspoon of black peppercorns. Apply over beef or lamb, and leave for at least three hours, ideally overnight. 

Juniper Citrus BBQ sauce

When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade. When life gives you a lot of spent botanicals…

The one by-product of gin production is, typically, some 30-40lbs of used botanicals per batch of gin. Rather brilliantly, these don’t go to waste and, instead, are proving very popular among the chef community.

While some are going quite elaborate with their recycling, if you have access to, say, some of the botanicals used in Fifty Pounds Gin, there are more straightforward approaches too.

Put 250mls of ketchup, 100mls of orange juice, 1 tbsp molasses, 100mls of cider vinegar into a saucepan, with 3tbsp juniper, I tablespoon each of coriander seeds, orange and lemon peel, and Grains of Paradise. Cook over a medium heat for 10 minutes and simmer. If it thickens too much, add a splash more orange juice or, indeed, gin.

Classic cocktails also make an interesting starting off point for marinades and sauces – the Red Snapper (a gin-based Bloody Mary) being a fine example.  

Double the basic quantities – 120 ml Fifty Pounds Gin, 480 ml tomato juice, 30 ml freshly squeezed lemon juice – and add to a saucepan, with 100g of dark brown sugar. Stir, bring to a slow simmer and reduce by around a third (for a marinade) or half (for a sauce). Add Tabasco, Worcestershire sauce, celery salt and black pepper to taste.  It makes an excellent marinade for ribs, or chicken.  As a sauce, it can either be slathered on during the cooking process or added at the end. 

The Gimlet too can be adapted for BBQing purposes – this marinade is excellent with fish and chicken. Take 100mls of Fifty Pounds, the zest and juice of two limes, one clove of garlic minced, one teaspoon of paprika, two tablespoons of honey, salt and pepper to taste. Combine, whisk, and marinade. 

Gin, of course, can be used to make a myriad cooling, refreshing drinks.  If you’re spicing up your cooking, something sweet can help balance the heat, such as the Bee’s Knees. 

60ml of Fifty Pounds
1/2tsp of honey – the runnier the better
15ml fresh lemon juice
A splash of water or tonic

Stir the honey into the water/tonic to make a quick syrup. Add to a shaker with the gin, lemon juice and some ice. Shake, strain into a cold cocktail glass.

On August 11 1968, the last steam passenger train ran in the UK. To mark this end of an era, a selection of locomotives made the 120-mile journey from Liverpool to Carlisle and back, at a cost of £15, a ride that came to be known as “The Fifteen Guinea Special.” In today’s money, that would be over £200…

In Brooklyn, on August 15, Debra Messing was born. It’s a good month for sitcom stars – Debra is best known for playing Grace in the TV show Will & Grace.

On August 17, Mia Farrow was granted a divorce from Frank Sinatra after just nine months. To obtain it, she flew from New York to El Paso, Texas, then nipped across the Mexican border to the city of Ciudad Juárez in Mexico.

After slipping out of the number one position for a week – beaten by The Crazy World of Arthur Brown with “Fire” – Mony Mony, by Tommy James and The Shondells, returned to the top slot in the UK charts on August 18.

The decision that a manned landing on the moon was clearly possible was announced by U.S. Air Force Lieutenant General Samuel C. Phillips, Director of NASA’s Apollo lunar landing program, on August 19. In fulfilment of the late President Kennedy’s 1962 goal that they would land a man on the moon and return him to Earth “before the end of the decade». Lt. Gen. Phillips also announced that the first Apollo orbital mission would launch on October 11.

Operation Danube – the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia – took place on the night of August 20-21. Aiming to crush the “Prague Spring” – a brief period of liberalisation in this previously Communist country – this joint invasion by five Warsaw Pact nations – the Soviet Union, Bulgaria, Hungary, East Germany and Poland – saw around 200,000 troops and 5,000 tanks invade.

The Fab Four became the Fab Three very briefly on August 22. After frustrations with the recording of “Back in the U.S.S.R.” for the White Album, and a row with Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr quit The Beatles temporarily. He returned in early September – having written Octopus’s Garden during his break.

The last remaining racially segregated school system in the US, in Caswell County, North Carolina, was ordered to submit its desegregation plan on August 23 1968. U.S. District Judge Edwin M. told officials that «The Supreme Court has made its statement. You don’t have any further choice. You have to get on with integration.»

Billy Boyd, the Scottish actor perhaps best known for playing Peregrin “Pippin” Took in The Lord of the Rings trilogy was born on August 28.

One of cricket’s rarest achievements – the perfect batting over – was achieved by West India legend Gary Sobers on August 31. Playing for Nottingham against Glamorgan, Sobers was facing bowler Roger Davis – and hit all six balls for six runs.

saw the release of Waiting For The Sun, the third studio album from The Doors.

On July 5 1968…

it was an all Australian Wimbledon Men’s Singles Final, which Rod Laver won in straight sets over Tony Roche.  The prize was £2,000.

British R&B legends The Yardbirds called it a day on July 7 1968, with a farewell gig at the Luton College of Technology.  While not the most glamorous of finales, they can still lay claim to starting the careers of Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page.

On the subject of 1960s rock, Billy Crudup, the star of Almost Famous, was born on July 8 1968, in Manhasset, New York

While we all know the National Westminster Bank, it didn’t exist prior to July 10 1968.  That’s the date that the National Provincial Bank merged with the Westminster Bank to form the new organisation.

While the song dates back to 1966, the Beatles’ psychedelic animated film Yellow Submarine  received its premiere at the London Pavilion on 17 July 1968, launching the Blue Meanies onto an unsuspecting world…

Look at your computer?  Does it have Intel inside?  There’s a good chance it does and the company – with a name derived from “integrated” and “electronics”, rather than “intelligence” – launched on July 18, 1968.

July 20, 1968

goes down in history as the day of the first Special Olympics games, organised by Eunice Kennedy Shriver.  While over 2.5m athletes benefit from the program today, the first event involved 1000 9 to 18 year olds.

American stage actress and singer Kristin Chenoweth – perhaps best known for her recurring role in Glee and the original cast recording of Wicked – was born on July 24 1968.

It wasn’t an entirely successful month for The Beatles.  As their new film opened, their Apple Boutique, closed its doors after just eight months on July 31 1969 – the same day that Dad’s Army received its premier on BBC1.  It ran for nine years.

World Gin Day is a global celebration of all things gin, held annually on the second Saturday in June.

The idea behind it is simple: get people together all around the world with a legitimate excuse to celebrate gin, whether it’s in cocktail form, neat or in a classic G&T.

It’s the idea of “The Gin Monkey” – real name Emma – who started her alter ego to promote the sort of bars, and drinks, she liked. And, with twelve years of working in the industry in Leeds, Newcastle and London, she felt she had a pretty good insight into what she was looking for. However, as she points out on her site, Emma’s “main expertise/passion has always been drinking them” – which basically means she reviews bars, cocktails and spirits from a consumer’s perspective. Oh, and as Emma explains, the name came about “because of my love of the juniper spirit and the fact I’ve got ridiculously long arms.”

It’s that love, and the recent boom in the British and World gin industries, that prompted the creation of World Gin Day.

How does one participate?

It couldn’t be easier. Just follow World Gin Day / Gin Monkey on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to keep up to date with the latest news and events, and use the #WorldGinDay hashtag in your own posts. The official website will also show all the events taking place.

To quote a famous Monty Python line, what have the Romans ever given us?  Well, aside from sanitation, law and order, etc., they probably helped begin the process of barrel-ageing alcohol.

While the process is familiar to fans of whisky/whiskey, the process clearly had to begin somewhere (and, perhaps, be gin somewhere?) but where and how? As with so many things in the food and drink industries, it appears to be a happy accident.

According to some theories, the Romans – and the Gauls – noticed that the wine stored in wooden containers tasted better than the wine that had been stored in clay vessels.

Wood gradually became a more common material for such storage and by the time that boats – and sailors – had progressed to more transoceanic voyages, more and more barrels were being used for storage. Initially, it was practicality: wood was sturdy, cheap and its antibacterial qualities may have also been noticed. Beyond that, however, people noticed that alcohol stored in wooden casks had mellowed by the time it reached its destination, becoming less harsh and also picking up notes – depending on the wood – of spice, vanilla, nuts and other flavours.

By the time of the nineteenth century, when gin was transported in oak barrels, many of the barrels used were being recycled, having previously contained other drinks, such as sherry. As a result, gin aged in such casks developed a reputation for flavour and smoothness – a process that’s gaining a new popularity in the gin market today, as a way of enhancing the spirit’s colour and flavour, while remaining true to the key botanicals.

As well as the historical happy accident, the inspiration undoubtedly came from the whisk(e)y industry who have been using wooden barrels to flavour, colour and finish their spirits for years, be it fresh oak, “toasted” oak – charred to varying degrees to bring out the wood’s natural sugars and oils, which infuse in the spirit – or barrels that have housed assorted other drinks. Dalmore’s King Alexander III, for example, is a mix of aged malt whiskies matured in six different casks: Oloroso sherry, Cabernet Sauvignon wine, port, Marsala, Madeira and bourbon.

The interplay of cask and liquid has thus become one of the key weapons in the distiller’s arsenal, prompting a

whole new sub-genre of gins and other spirits. Spirit works Distillery in Sebastapol, California, for example, have pushed this to new extremes, offering a barrel-aged gin, a barrel aged slow gin and getting very creative with their whiskey: they’ve placed headphones on some of their barrels and have been playing music to them, 24/7! Each barrel is “listening” to a different genre, and it’s not as crazy as it sounds: the vibrations from the music affect that barrel/liquid interplay. Early reports suggest that the classical barrel is showing very little difference to their usual whiskey, but the drum n bass barrel is darker and more intensely flavoured.

At Fifty Pounds, our own foray into barrel ageing isn’t quite as eccentric, instead echoing back to the process’s more historic roots and that sense of “happy accident”. Fifty Pounds barrel-aged gin is called “Cask at the Back”, which refers to those barrels which were stored at the back of the warehouse, and were usually there for longer than those at the front since access was more difficult. The extra time makes all the difference… As does the choice of wood, of course.

The cask in question is American oak that previously matured aged Pedro Ximenez – that famous “Christmas-pudding-in-a-glass” sherry. As a result, this special release is, according to Master Distiller Charles Wells, “a glinting old gold colour”

Despite this glorious hue, the Fifty Pounds signature juniper and citrus notes shine through on the nose, however, they sit alongside hints of wood, toasted oak and, as you’d expect from the PX influence, raisins, prunes and nuts.

On the palate, it’s a similar combination: initial sweetness giving way to smoothness and a long, rounded, smooth finish.

Cask At The Back is a limited edition bottling with only 500 bottles available worldwide.  The gin has been aged for 7 years in a single barrel and is a satisfying nod to what makes Fifty Pounds – Fifty Pounds, a tribute to the joys of Pedro Ximenez and, in its unique nature, a unrepeatable and delicious history lesson.

For stockist enquires in the UK contact marketinguk@mbev.com