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eSports Chaebol posted:if you really want alcohol-free bitters you can get fee brothers prayer group posted:also recommended if you don't care for flavor This has become my opinion of Fee's. Sure I can literally walk to the original factory from here. But uh yeah they're mediocre. I do enjoy a hefty dash of bitters in a glass of soda water as a fizzy flavored drink. The alcohol content isn't enough for health reasons at that point. Thank yall for the other ideas, I'll be experimenting with them. I've heard the alcohol free gins and such are mostly awful.
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May 23, 2022 05:07
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| # ? Jun 8, 2024 09:04 |
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Yeah I haven't seen a reason to bother with any of these non-alcoholic spirit substitutes. I haven't seen a single person vouch for their flavor as a standalone thing, just that it's theoretically possible to make, say, a non-alcoholic Negroni if you happen to live somewhere that these three different small-production bottles all happen to be distributed. Really not enticing.
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May 23, 2022 06:07
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In the case of the lemon lime and bitters I'm using around 2 tsp per gallon or so, which comes out to .1% alcohol. That's less than some commercially-available kombuchas. The sober people at the wedding specifically said bitters are fine as a flavoring agent, and I'm not aware of very many contexts in which .1% ABV would be a significant concern, since there are plenty of naturally-occurring sources of alcohol that are higher than that.
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May 23, 2022 06:21
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Speaking of bitters, my favorite bitters spot, AZ bitters shut down. What are peoples favorite bitters producers to check out? I've recently found and enjoyed some of the bitter housewifes production, but always love branching out.
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May 23, 2022 07:18
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my kinda ape posted:Baking definitely evaporates all the alcohol content Nah. https://www.foodnetwork.com/how-to/packages/food-network-essentials/cooking-wine-does-alcohol-burn-off
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May 23, 2022 07:42
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It’s pretty much impossible to avoid alcohol entirely, yeast are ubiquitous so anything containing sugar will inherently have at least trace amounts in it. Breads, fruit juices, soy sauce and even ripe bananas all contain measurable amounts of ethanol. Everyone I know who avoids alcohol consumption will even drink kombucha, but I still wouldn’t put a distilled product into their drink without running it by them first.
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May 23, 2022 10:29
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Carillon posted:Speaking of bitters, my favorite bitters spot, AZ bitters shut down. What are peoples favorite bitters producers to check out? I've recently found and enjoyed some of the bitter housewifes production, but always love branching out. I can't say enough about Bittercube, particularly their Trinity bitters. I think they make 4 in total.
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May 23, 2022 10:53
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I think Bittercube Bolivar is their recreation of Boker’s/Bogart’s, which was an extremely common formula in the 19th century named in many recipes but fell out of production.
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May 23, 2022 14:14
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Missing Name posted:This has become my opinion of Fee's. Sure I can literally walk to the original factory from here. But uh yeah they're mediocre. My wife doesn't drink alcohol but has a couple bottles of Seedlip "non-alcoholic spirits". It's just water with various botanicals distilled into it, up to you if that's worth the $30 price tag but it does make for a decent mocktail base.
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May 23, 2022 14:41
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Please share a seedlip recipe she likes, I have a bottle from my wife's last pregnancy and I really want it to work better than it did for us
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May 23, 2022 15:28
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Seedlip and tonic with a squeeze of lime is decent.
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May 24, 2022 00:35
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Carillon posted:Speaking of bitters, my favorite bitters spot, AZ bitters shut down. What are peoples favorite bitters producers to check out? I've recently found and enjoyed some of the bitter housewifes production, but always love branching out. I've recently gotten into Dashfire Bitters. They have an attractive rectangular bottle with a dropper attached to the top, and their Mission Fig Fennel bitters are some of my favorite bitters I've had since Abbott's came out (you should also look for a bottle of Abbott's if you can find it).
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May 24, 2022 06:15
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So speaking of bitters, I want to start expanding by collection of the stuff. I've got Ango and Orange (technically not actual ango since I bought Fee brothers which this thread has just taught me might be a mistake but they taste pretty good to my somewhat unpracticed pallet), are there any must haves I should check out? I'm interested in getting some Chocolate Bitters to make Left Hands since I have all this Campari, what's a good brand I should look into for that?
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May 24, 2022 14:12
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Angosturra’s cocoa bitters are nice, as is Bittermens’ mole bitters. What to get next really depends on what you enjoy drinking. If you like whiskey drinks, black walnut bitters are quite nice. If you like rum, Bittermens’ Elemakule Tiki bitters are great (though ironically aren’t really at home in tiki drinks.)
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May 24, 2022 14:21
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Another thing to do is to get some absinthe into a dasher bottle - absinthe is a fantastic bitter, and I use it a lot in nontypical situations.
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May 24, 2022 14:53
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Gotta have absinthe in your atomizer so it's easy to do absinthe rinses on a whim. Also, Bittermens mole and tiki are excellent. Probably my most-used two bitters outside of the big 3 (Ango, orange [Regan's for me], Peychaud's). Scrappy's celery is also up there.
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May 24, 2022 14:56
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Strange Matter posted:So speaking of bitters, I want to start expanding by collection of the stuff. I've got Ango and Orange (technically not actual ango since I bought Fee brothers which this thread has just taught me might be a mistake but they taste pretty good to my somewhat unpracticed pallet), are there any must haves I should check out? I'm interested in getting some Chocolate Bitters to make Left Hands since I have all this Campari, what's a good brand I should look into for that? Peychaud's is a pretty common basic bitter. At least one competitor equivalent describes itself as a Creole bitter. I've gotten quite a bit of use out of Scrappy's Celery bitters. There's not a ton of recipes that use it but it really does something nice to the ones that do. I LOVE the Oceanside cocktail for instance. I don't really even like celery as a vegetable.
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May 24, 2022 15:00
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Mr. Wiggles posted:Another thing to do is to get some absinthe into a dasher bottle - absinthe is a fantastic bitter, and I use it a lot in nontypical situations. Anonymous Robot posted:Angosturra’s cocoa bitters are nice, as is Bittermens’ mole bitters. What to get next really depends on what you enjoy drinking. If you like whiskey drinks, black walnut bitters are quite nice. If you like rum, Bittermens’ Elemakule Tiki bitters are great (though ironically aren’t really at home in tiki drinks.)
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May 24, 2022 15:05
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Scrappy’s Cardamom bitters in a Negroni is my preferred way to drink them.
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May 24, 2022 15:30
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Strange Matter posted:Absinthe is on my long-term wishlist as I'm building up to make an Improved Whiskey Cocktail/Sazerac, which has so many ingredients it might as well be a Tiki drink. I still need it, Maraschino, and Peychaud's, but that's like a $100.00 investment to make one drink, basically. St George absinthe is available in a lil 200 ml bottle for ~$20, great for if you’re just doing rinses etc
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May 24, 2022 16:14
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Bitter Housewife's Westward Hazelnut Bitters are ridiculously good. My wife's all time fav cocktail is Rittenhouse rye, aperol, maraschino, and the hazelnut bitters. Besides that, I really enjoy Jerry Thomas' own decanter bitters from the bitter truth, the earlier-mentioned mole bitters from bittermans, and celery bitters. Try the celery bitters in stuff you want a bit more savory complexity in, it works better than you might think, nice rounding-out effect. Just, uh, not great in citrus drinks.
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May 25, 2022 21:56
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I don't know how widely they're distributed, but Hella Bitters Apple Blossom is good as poo poo. In terms of how often I reach for them my most important/favorite bitters are 1) Angostua 2) Peychauds 3) Abbott's (would be higher if it was more widely available) 4) Hella Apple Blossom 5) Dashfire Mission Fig Fennel 6) Hella Orange (tastes almost identical to Regans, which I haven't seen around in ages) In general I've not found chocolate bitters to be something I go for very often. Odd herbal bitters never seem to work well, even though I keep trying. I've had several different celery bitters, the Hella Eucalyptus bitters, and the Dashfire Bay Laurel bitters and none of them really hit for me. Pander posted:Bitter Housewife's Westward Hazelnut Bitters are ridiculously good. My wife's all time fav cocktail is Rittenhouse rye, aperol, maraschino, and the hazelnut bitters. This sounds good as poo poo.
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May 25, 2022 22:27
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Back to Vermouth chat, is Dolin a good starting place? I don't love a lot of vermouth centric drinks so I'd like to have something with a nice balance of good and cheap.
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May 25, 2022 22:45
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Pander posted:Bitter Housewife's Westward Hazelnut Bitters are ridiculously good. My wife's all time fav cocktail is Rittenhouse rye, aperol, maraschino, and the hazelnut bitters.
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May 25, 2022 22:52
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Strange Matter posted:Back to Vermouth chat, is Dolin a good starting place? I don't love a lot of vermouth centric drinks so I'd like to have something with a nice balance of good and cheap. Dolin is excellent, both sweet and dry. Vya is another good brand that's in the same overall tier.
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May 25, 2022 22:57
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Strange Matter posted:Back to Vermouth chat, is Dolin a good starting place? I don't love a lot of vermouth centric drinks so I'd like to have something with a nice balance of good and cheap. Oh god yes. Vermouth so good you’ll find yourself making 50/50 martinis.
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May 26, 2022 01:44
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Try putting Fernet Branca in a little squeeze bottle like a bitter. I use a little bit in my sazerac style drink, recently used a tiny bit in a dark and stormy. Prior poster said microdosing with anise liquer/absinthe like a bitter is right on. My bitters I actually use: Angostura Angostura Orange Peychauds Scrappy's Lime Jerry Thomas Decanter Mole bitters (random brand) Cardamom (homemade) Caraway-Sazerac (homemade) "Thai" tiki (homemade) Bittermens Tiki. I only manage to use celery bitters with tomato juice based drinks.
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May 26, 2022 02:18
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Kenning posted:Dolin is excellent, both sweet and dry. Vya is another good brand that's in the same overall tier. The Maestro posted:Oh god yes. Vermouth so good you’ll find yourself making 50/50 martinis.
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May 26, 2022 03:15
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Our aloe vera plants are going bonkers, so my wife challenged me to use them in cocktails. So far, the real hit is the following: 6 inch piece of aloe A few mint leaves 0.5 lemon juice 0.5 simple 2 oz gin Muddle aloe and mint in shaker, add rest of the ingredients and shake real good, double strain into coup. It's crazy refreshing. The aloe (it turned out to be about 1.5 oz of juice) adds an herbaceous mellowness, as well as a bit of body as if I added glycerin. Unless someone has done this one before, I'm going to call it an aloe cooler.
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May 26, 2022 03:47
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I love Dolin blanc in a Botanist martini. I'm not huge on their Rosso, but it's ok. I'm spoiled by Carpano and Cocci Torino.
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May 26, 2022 04:06
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Professor Wayne posted:I like all those things and just ordered those bitters. What ratios do you use? 1.5 oz Rittenhouse 1 oz aperol 3/4 maraschino 3 dashes hazelnut bitters (it's not easy to dash this bottle, so use maybe 2 full barspoons? Or just to taste. I've found you really can't overdo these bitters though.) Stir, strain, garnish with orange twist. Should be light, sweet, herbal, and nutty.
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May 26, 2022 04:35
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Kenning posted:In general I've not found chocolate bitters to be something I go for very often. Same. I expected to get more mileage from them, but I find the far better chocolate flavor from Mr Black and chocolate liqueur. 4:1 ratio of Mr Black to liqueur, plus some sweet vermouth and whiskey is so good.
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May 26, 2022 04:40
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AlexDeGruven posted:I love Dolin blanc in a Botanist martini. I'm not huge on their Rosso, but it's ok. I'm spoiled by Carpano and Cocci Torino. Dolin blanc on the rocks with a lemon twist is one of my favorite easy summer drinks.
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May 26, 2022 16:02
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re: Non-Al spirit chat, I haven’t had seedlip since they were wholly acquired, so I can’t tell you for certain, but I liked the botanical forward versions as a replacement for gin. And I love gin. Proteau is coming out as something between a non-al bitter and vermouth, and I like it. It’s been a pretty trendy spot in drinks journalism, so I can recommend a few authors if you’re sober-curious, cutting back, on a medical chit, or whatever. On the other hand, if you want to make your own Boker’s bitters, I can dig up a spec for that, also.
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May 26, 2022 16:26
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Pander posted:1.5 oz Rittenhouse Thank you!
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May 26, 2022 16:34
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Hmmm looking around for Dolin Vermouth, what's the variety used for Sweet? Is it Rouge de Chambery? Because I'm having a hard time figuring out which one is supposed to be Sweet, whereas the dry is quite evident.
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May 26, 2022 18:04
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Yep, "rouge" is the sweet one. ("Blanc" is also sweet, which is why they label it that way, but "sweet vermouth" in English means sweet red vermouth.)
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May 26, 2022 18:10
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You'll also see sweet/red referred to as Italian and dry referred to as French, despite producers in both countries making both types.
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May 26, 2022 20:15
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Yeah, I feel like that’s very out of fashion to say but you will see it frequently in old books.
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May 27, 2022 00:07
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I whipped up a batch of Morganthaler's Lime Cordial and now I'm desperate to find more things to put it in other than gimlets because that stuff rocks.
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May 28, 2022 03:57
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