The Manhattan and the Perfect Bitters- Presentation
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Join Award-winning mixologist and author Dale DeGroff for a lively presentation on the origins of aromatic bitters. Participate in a tasting of five different aromatic of bitters- first on their own, then paired with a rye Manhattan. Experience the flavor profiles of a variety of styles of aromatic bitters and how they impact this Iconic Cocktail. Degroff talks through a couple classic 19th century bitters recipes during the tasting, and captivates with stories of how these botanicals were discovered and how they influenced history.
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The Manhattan and the Perfect Bitters- Presentation
- 1. © 2013 I’ll Take Manhattans by Dale DeGroff All Rights Reserved
- 2. The End of an Era Half Note Jazz Club This Deli was once the home of the Half Note Jazz Club at Hudson “Little Jazz” Roy Eldridge New York 1969
- 3. Joe & Julia
- 4. -La Fonda de Sol -The Four Seasons -Rainbow Room -Windows on the World and many others
- 5. • A menu that celebrated the cocktails of legendary supper clubs
- 7. © 2013 I’ll Take Manhattans by Dale DeGroff All Rights Reserved
- 8. Angostura Bitters 1824 Available world-wide by the late 19th century popular in culinary and beverage applications From French Wine and Liquor Manufacturer 1868, Dick & Fitzgerald Gentian Root (Bitter Root) Allspice, Mace, Nutmeg, Cinnamon, Clove (eugenol), Caraway and Coriander Seeds, Galangal (ginger family -floral and intense) Cardamom Seeds, Wormwood Chinchona Calisaya Bark (contains quinine) Red Saunders Wood, Curcuma (Ginger, Tumeric) Catechu (astringent Acacia Catechu) Angostura Bark Canada & Virginia Snake Root (banned) Liquorice Root, Dandelion Root ,Yellow Bark Grind and steeped in spirit, sweetened with honey, filtered through canvas, sand, charcoal cotton flannel bag, cotton wadding, and cotton cloth.
- 9. (Patented Feb. 4 1902)The second bottle still has a wrap around label: Rheinstrom & Bros. Cincinnati, Ohio, embossed with the words: Eagle Liqueur Distilleries Angostura Bark Bitters Angostura Bark Bitters
- 10. Bitters Before Prohibition A wide variety of commercial bitters
- 11. Safe & Scientific… Responsible and truthful advertising!
- 12. Bitters you may have found in your dad’s liquor cabinet
- 13. Bitters Today
- 14. The addition of a dash of Aromatic Bitters is what Defined the Cocktail Strong spirits with Sugar, Water, and Bitters 1806
- 15. Stoughton’s Bitters Jerry Thomas / Pierre Lacour Recipe: • 8 lbs. Gentian root • 1/2 oz. Red Saunders wood (or cochineal) • 6 lbs. Orange Peel • 1.5 lbs. Virginia Snake Root, Tremetol (poisonous) • Calamus Root (sweetflag) dried ground roots substitute for cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger • Guinea Pepper (grains of paradise) • 1/2 oz. American Saffron First medicinal bitters brand and the second patented medicine in England, 1690, Patented 1712) Ground into medium powder; add to 10 gallons of proof spirit / whiskey (100 vol. alcohol to 10 vol. of water) Macerate for two weeks stirring every 24 hours
- 16. Gentian
- 17. Illuminated version of the 1st Century De Materia Medica by Pendanius Dioscorides upon which western pharmacology was based. While translating the Materia Medica, Ancient Arabs cataloged many important herbs and decorated the manuscripts with extraordinary art. Nilotica (acacia)
- 18. Cochineal 76 shades of red Look for: E120, Red 40, or Carmine that is cochineal, a popular coloring because it is natural
- 19. THE AGE OF DISCOVERY The Search for the Spice Islands opens the Western Hemisphere in all it’s Riches
- 20. Stoughton’s Bitters Jerry Thomas / Pierre Lacour Recipe: • 8 lbs. Gentian root • 1/2 oz. Red Saunders wood (or cochineal) • 6 lbs. Orange Peel • 1.5 lbs. Virginia Snake Root, Tremetol (poisonous) • Calamus Root (sweetflag) dried ground roots substitute for cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger • Guinea Pepper (grains of paradise) • 1/2 oz. American Saffron Ground into medium powder; add to 10 gallons of proof spirit / whiskey (100 vol. alcohol to 10 vol. of water) Macerate for two weeks stirring every 24 hours First medicinal bitters brand and the second patented medicine in England (1690, Patented 1712)
- 22. Allspice (Pimento) Nature’s Spice Box Ginger Nutmeg Cinnamon Clove
- 24. Orris A Natural Fixative Wormwood
- 25. Pioneers of the Cocktail and the first authors in the field Many brands of bitters were included in the recipes
- 26. JERRY THOMAS FAVORED Bokers Bitters 1828 L. J. Funke Co., N.Y. Created by Johann Gottlieb Boker Re-created in 2009 by Dr. Adam Elmegirab • 1868 Pierre Lacour Recipe • Whiskey, one gallon • water, six gallons • rasped cassia (Cinnamon), three ounces • powdered catechu (acacia) three ounces • calamus,(sweetflag) dried ground roots substitute for nutmeg, ginger three ounces each • cardamom two ounces • Macerate in whiskey for one week. Strain. • Forty ounces of tincture of cochineal, and five ounces burnt sugar for color.
- 27. Bitters Listed in 1888 Edition Harry Johnson’s Handbook for Bartenders • Angostura • Hostetters Bitters • Orange Bitters (not branded) • Boonecamp Bitters • Stoughton Bitters • Sherry Wine Bitters
- 28. I’ll Take Manhattans You can keep the Bronx and Staten Island Too But… Could the Manhattan have been invented in Chicago? Impossible!
- 29. O. H. Byron’s Manhattans Two variations from the 1884 O.H. Byron book MANHATTAN #1 • (a small wineglass) • 1 pony French vermouth • 1/2 pony whiskey • 3 or 4 dashes Angostura • 3 dashes of gum syrup MANHATTAN #2 • 2 dashes Curaçao • 2 dashes Angostura bitters • 1/2 wineglass whiskey • 1/2 wineglass Italian vermouth • Fine ice; stir well. And strain into a cocktail glass.
- 31. JERRY THOMAS’ BARTENDER’S GUIDE 1887 Edition
- 32. How to Mix drinks by George Winter 1884
- 33. Dale DeGroff’s Pimento Aromatic Bitters • Macerated for over thirty days. • Begin with 96% ABV neutral spirit, the purest available. • Spent botanicals are distilled in a small amount of alcohol with recovered spirit returned to the next maceration. • All botanicals go in together.
- 36. Knob Creek Super Premium Rye • Brings the rich and savory notes of rye to life in the complex way that only Knob Creek can • Distinct, full-bodied character with spicy notes, smooth taste and luxurious finish • Handcrafted in small batches, 100 Proof • Rye spiciness, vanilla undertones • Provides the taste of pre-prohibition whiskey by delivering the rich and savory notes of rye in the same bold tradition Knob Creek is known for • Highest Rated Rye; 2013, Ultimate Spirits Challenge
Editor's Notes
- An aversion to bitter is built into our DNA…to protect us from harmful or poisonous things… and so bitter food or drink is an acquired taste … bitter ingredients are especially difficult for the American palate, we grow up on sweet drinks and bitter drinks are an acquired taste. In much of the rest of the world beverages with a bitter component are common stimulants to appetite or used as digestives and are part of the culinary culture … Alcohol based Bitters are divided into potable and non-potable…or food additives… the non-potable bitters are used in drops in cocktails and enhance other ingredients. The potables are where the challenge is for the average American drinker; bitter beverages like Campari or more often Fernet Branca require some work. TASTE ANGO >>> In the Late 1980’s Angostura bitters company hired me as a consultant. it might have well have been the only accessible bitters on the market … Peychauds was very difficult to find… Fee was around but completely under the radar, more of a local New York product. Bars had bottles they kept for years. Tell marriage joke .. Worked on and off fro the mid 1990’s until 2010. They saw the rebirth of retro cocktails at the Rainbow Room as an opportunity the jump start the use of their bitters in bars.
- Hipper decade ended with the Manson, the deaths at the Killings Rolling stones concert at Altamont, Beatles broke up…Nixon ended biological warfare as an offensive weapon and closed the Biological warfare research center.
- An aversion to bitter is built into our DNA…to protect us from harmful or poisonous things… so bitter food or drink is an acquired taste … bitter ingredients are especially difficult for the American palate, we grow up on sweet drinks and bitter drinks are an acquired taste. In much of the rest of the world beverages with a bitter component are common stimulants to appetite or used as digestives and are part of the culinary culture. Alcohol based Bitters are divided into potable and non-potable… the non-potable bitters are used in drops in cocktails and enhance other ingredients. The potables are where the challenge is for the average American drinker; bitter beverages like Campari or more often Fernet Branca require some work. TASTE ANGO >>> In the Late 1980’s angostura bitters company hired me as a consultant. They saw the rebirth of retro cocktails at the Rainbow Room as an opportunity the jump start the use of their bitters in bars. At the time Angostura was the only bitters on the market … Peychauds was very difficult to find… Fee Brothers were around but completely under the radar, more of a local New York product. Bars had bottles they kept for years. Tell marriage joke .. Worked on and off with the Angostura Company from Mid 1990’s through 2010 …
- Ango. Bitters were created by a German physician Johann Siegert who was Surgeon General in Bolivar’s Army as a cure for stomach problems experienced by Europeans in the tropics of south America it was originally called Aromatic bitters (first 50 years) and the word Angostura appeared on the label as the place of manufacture in Venezuela. The difficult political climate in Venezuela prompted a move to Trinidad in 1876. Ironically Angostura bark was never an ingredient
- Angostura tree is in the RUE Family, The bark has medicinal and flavor properties. It is used as a tonic and a purgative, and was one of the trees used by the South American Indians to lessen fever. In a 1903 court proceeding J.W. Wupperman Ango’s USA Rep got the exclusive right to the name Angostura … barring competitors like the one pictured above from using the name. This was an especially ill fated commercial endeavor released one year prior to the ruling. Another Abbots Bitters actually was marketed as Abbott’s Angostura Bitters and they used Angostura Bark on their products, 1903 Abbotts was the object of the Angostura suit and lost their right to the name angostura changing their name to simply Abbotts.
- Prior to prohibition the bitters horizon was bright .. There were at least 30 commercial brands and of course lots of house made offerings …by the end of 19th century there were over 30 commercial bitters AND many times that number of in house prepared tinctures & bitters TASTE ABBOTTS (TEMPUS FUGIT PRODUCT) .
- The utmost care was taken to test the medical claims made on the bottle! >>> as pictured above wild claims were made about the curative properties of bitters … and they were marketed as medicines to avoid excise taxes on potable spirits. BUT the claims were not all scurrilous … Ingredients in these products included botanicals that have been used since ancient times for their medicinal properties… like Chinchona Ruta. Gentian and many many others…
- These three were the only bitters on the market as we entered the latter half of the 20th century and two, the Peychauds and the Fee Brothers were very difficult to find…
- Today there are over 75 types of commercial varieties of non-potable bitters available to the bartender or home enthusiast… And in bars and restaurants there are many hundreds of in house-made bitters and tinctures. Define tinctures The cocktail resurgence that followed on the wave of the culinary revolution of the 1980’s and 90’s has inspired many young beverage professionals to branch out into manufacturing new products … Bitters among them BUT in fact it was bitters that started cocktail culture …
- In the1880s’ the golden age of the cocktail bitters were ubiquitous and with good reason it was the addition of bitters to slings and punches that defined the category of cocktail may 6, 1806, … in The Balance and Columbian Repository a letter to the editor inquiring about the use of the word cocktail in relation to an alcoholic beverage resulted in the first definition of cocktail in print May 13th 1806… That cocktails were defined a BITTERED SLINGS … Even though bitters defined the American novelty drink the cocktail… ironically bitters were first made in England. The brand was called Stoughton’s … developed in 1690, … it was patented in 1712 only the second Patent medicine ever … with it’s high alcohol content it brought comfort of another kind to a large audience ….
- The popularity spread to the colonies and it wasn’t long before clever entrepreneurs flooded the market with cheap imitations. SO NOW we ask the big question: WHAT ARE BITTERS? Let’s take a closer look. The original Stoughton’s had 22 botanicals steeped in Alcohol … Although medicinal, it was also an alcoholic beverage and brought comfort of a different kind and was a major commercial success. This is not the original recipe but rather one of the colonial recipes… Notice the first ingredient on the listed ingredients above… The first ingredient is Gentian, an alpine meadow flower, the root of which is harvested as a bittering agent. It’s the most common bittering ingredient used in alcoholic beverages.
- GENTIAN is the staple bittering agent used in Stoughtons, Angostura and a host of bitter potable alcoholic beverages. BUT that is only the beginning of the story of gentian. It is responsible for some two of the most iconic of American Cocktails the Manhattan and the Martini … and toss in the negroni for good measure as well as dozens of other classic cocktails Gentian is a bittering ingredient in Vermouth, Campari, amaros, apertivo, digestivo … The Egyptian Eber Papyrus dating to 1200 BCI documented the use of Gentian in medical preparations. The Eber papyrus was thought to reflect older works lost to history. Speak to the medicinal herbs and botanicals gather by mankind since the dawn of civilzationa dneven a bit before.
- The Materia Medica pictured here dating from the 1st century AD was 8 volumes, th combined knowledge of the ancients from the previous four millennium into one document that became the basis of modern pharmacology …written by a Greek physician Pedanius Dioscorides, (Dios –koreedes) an encyclopedia of herbal medicine. …Byzantine and Islamic illuminators added the beautiful art to the scholarly manuscripts in the middle ages as well as augmenting the catalogue of medicinal herbs and plants with newly discoveries. TASTE BITTERS # 3 Bitter truth
- The Cochineal is a beetle, the female attaches to prickly pear cactus and covers herself with a cocoon. Tribute was paid to Aztec kings with Bags of Cochineal beetles. Red was the color of the Inca king’s robes … red was used for royal and religious ceremony Throughout history. The color red was used to signify life force, blood and fire Mummys of the Pharohs were wrapped in Egyptian linen dyed red iron oxide … Samuri of 17 & 18th century wore jacket dyed with cochineal. In Italy the Medici Popes wore a robes dyed with Cochineal. Turkish rug weavers used cochineal ands continue the practice today. In modern products Look for: E120, Red 40, or Carmine these signify cochineal …..The Spanish had the monopoly (Vice Royalty of Peru , Mexico to the tip of S. America) they shipped 72 tons to Cadiz …(140,000. female beetles weigh one kilo (2.2 pounds). …. The uniforms of the English Army regulars the Redcoats the symbol of colonial power were dyed with cochineal. English Privateers hired by British were boarding Spanish ships for Cochineal ….
- The 14th millennium opened the age of enlightenment as well as the age exploration and discovery. Portuguese, Dutch, Spanish and later in the game English explorers were competing to colonize the Americas and the spice islands of Southeast Asia. The Dutch East India Company Established in 1602 …the first company to sell shares was more that a company, it had a standing army with the right to wage war and negotiate treaties, coin money, even establish colonies. The company was valued at 7.3 trillion in today’s currency and paid 18% annual dividend to investors for 200 years. CLOVE (Myrtle Family) the spice is a closed flower from the clove tree that is dried and fermented … Clove (Eugenol )is an amplifier, enhancing the flavor and complexity of citrus and vanilla… Liqueurs … Amaretto and nut liqueurs.
- CALUMUS SEE NOTES Baking spices… bitter earthy…woodsey even leather …but first let’s TASTE BITTER TRUTH BITTERS … saffron has been cultivated since1500 BC as a spice and a bittering agent and medicinally suppresses tumors aids digestion 1 ounce $300. ….One harvest … 3 flowers per plant… 4000 FLOWERS to harvest one ounce of saffron… no seeds three flowers per plant …difficult to grow …fragile saffron was grows from the bulb that must be dug up and replanted… mostly from Iran .. But also Spain Greece…. tell guinea pepper/Grains of Paradise story of lowland gorillas and heart disease
- Indonesia … NUTMEG monopoly…Dutch controlled the Banda Islands…and created a monopoly on Nutmeg and mace… They eventually wiped out much of the population and enslaved the rest … 1800 the French and British smuggled saplings off the islands and stared plantations in India and French Guiana… … CINNAMON (Laurel family) two types Cassia (China) and Ceylon or true cinnamon, Sri Lanka cassia contains coumarin the offending ingredient in the outlawed Tonka bean
- ALLSPICE (MYRTLE FAMILY) … DUBBED PIMENTO BY EARLY Spanish explorers who saw the small berries being added to food and drink and mistook them for peppercorns, hence the name pimento A hundred years later in 1686 British botanist John Ray described the berries as allspice after noting that they exhibited aromas of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and clove. Europeans could not get the seeds to germinate until they discovered that the seeds needed to pass through bodies of Bats and Birds. The Americas gave us cinchona, allspice, cochineal, coffee, cocoa, angostura bark and countless vegetable like peppers and corn and potatoes and more
- MADDER FAMILY… After unsuccessful attempt by the English to reseed the cinchona trees out side of South America the Dutch succeeded in growing cinchona plantations in Java. By the end of the 19th century a large part of the worlds Quinine stocks were stored in warehouses in Amsterdam.. The second World War advances by the Japanese into Java and the Germans into Holland left allied forces without the resources to protect their soldiers who were fighting in tropical areas from Malaria. Only after botanists spent months in the Peruvian jungles collecting tons of cinchona bark for quinine production was the emergency averted.
- A natural fixative that stabalizes aroma and extend the life BUT only after drying for 2 to 3 years during drying it oxidizes giving it the fixative properties … has an essential oil Irone gives a slight Violet Aroma Use of orris dates to ancient greece in perfume WORMWOOD Aster Family A. Absinthium is the variety most often used in beverage applications and it contain a strong compound called thujone that can bring on seizures and death in very high doses, the amount found in beverage products is so tiny it is completely harmless. Sage has a higher thujone content than Absinthium. The most common use is in fortified wine and absinthe and bitters
- Jerry Thomas and Harry Johnson educated two generations in the profession of bartending. They created a “golden age” for the cocktail. JERRY THOMAS listed Bokers Bitters in the first editions it was mis-printed as Bogarts Bitters
- Bokers was the go to for many mixologists of the day and was equal to Angostura in popularity … Today Scottish bartender Adam Elmegirab’s produces a version Bokers Bitters from 19th century recipes ORANGE PEEL, CATECHU AND QUASSIA (South America Caribbe)an appeared in other 19th century recipe a bittering agent and a
- These constitute the top of the line for commercial bitters in the 1880’s. Rrip-offs were rampant Shots of Hostetter’s was a favorite of Union Soldiers during the Civil war
- David Wondrich found a Chicago Tribune article from March of 1884 quoting a local bartendner who claimed “Manhattan Cocktails are in demand too… I introduced them some time ago and they have become quite popular. The are made of vermouth and Gin”.
- Look at the Manhattan page in the Byron book it refers to the Martinez believed to be the father of the Martini as Manhattan made with gin
- RYE WHISKEY … TWICE AS MUCH VERMOUTH AS WHISKEY … OF COURSE BOKERS … AND GUM IF REQUIRED SLICE OF LEMON??? A CLARET GLASS ???
- Note the Peruvian Bitters and equal parts OF whiskey and vermouth
- I remember seeing Allspice berries all over the floor of the grinding room of Angostura in Trinidad. I used Wray and Nephew Pimento dram Liqueur in the 1990’s in several drinks and when the product was pulled from the American market I was really disappointed. I made samples batches using 100 proof vodka and Allspice berries several types anis root bitter orange peel … nd when I found one that appealed to me I contacted friend and absinthe maker Ted Beaux that was four years ago we stared production in Saumur France where Ted’s Absinthe stills are located ,last July. We are in Australia, Itaky, the UK, and Germany. And soon to be in China
- Great source material for more study of botanicals that find their way into alcoholic beverages.
- I remember seeing Allspice berries all over the floor of the grinding room of Angostura in Trinidad. I used Wray and Nephew Pimento dram Liqueur in the 1990’s in several drinks and when the product was pulled from the American market I was really disappointed. I made samples batches using 100 proof vodka and Allspice berries several types anis root bitter orange peel … nd when I found one that appealed to me I contacted friend and absinthe maker Ted Beaux that was four years ago we stared production in Saumur France where Ted’s Absinthe stills are located ,last July. We are in Australia, Itaky, the UK, and Germany. And soon to be in China