Consuming the Shame Part 4: Celery Bitters

Of all of the spirits that I have endeavored to salvage, my Bitter Truth Celery Bitters had the most promise.  First, unlike most of the other spirits, it is neither super sweet or a basic spirit but of low quality.  Second, and more important, it is interesting.  More than anything else, "interesting" ingredients are what separate drinks at high end bars from those of more conventional bars or restaurants.  They use rosemary infused vodka instead of Stoli for instance.  Celery bitters falls into that group of interesting ingredients, which could help make unique cocktails.  The trouble is that it is really strong and tends to dominate drinks.  The several times I've tried to use celery bitters, the drinks all came out tasting like a Bloody Mary, which was never the intent.

One thing that I've learned about these bitters, more so than orange or angostura bitters, is that they are potent and should be used in very small doses.  I've also come to the conclusion that bitters should help shape a drink, but in most cases not be a featured flavor.  With that in mind, following a decent bit of contemplation, I came up with a very tasty cocktail.

Old Glasshouse

Ingredients
2 ounces of Old Tom Gin (Ransom)
1 ounce of Dry Vermouth (Nolly Pratt)
1/2 ounce of Elderflower Liqueur (St. Germain)
1 dash (6 drops) of celery bitters (Bitter Truth)
 
Directions
Stir ingredients with ice, pour into a chilled cocktail glass, and garnish with a lemon peel.

Outcome
This is a legitimately good drink, which is at its heart a martini variant.  The celery bitters mix nicely with the elderflower liqueur.  The bitters did not overwhelm the drink but kept the St. Germain from giving the drink a sweet lingering aftertaste that I've experienced in some drinks with the spirit.  The sweet herbal quality of the Old Tom gin works with both the floral taste of the St. Germain and the savory quality of the celery bitters.  This cocktail might fall just a hair sweeter than my preference on that scale but it works.  In fact, my wife, who likes her drinks a bit on the sweet side really liked it.  Though I lack it at the moment, I think genever gin, which like Old Tom gin is very herbal, but isn't quite as sweet, might prove better still.  This drink is good enough that I might submit this or a variant of it for this month's Mixology Monday.

Mixology Monday: South of Tuitan

This month's Mixology Monday, hosted by The Barman Cometh, challenges participants to devise a cocktail using a floral ingredient.  This theme dovetails nicely with a cocktail I'd been playing around with, whose final iteration I've named South of Tuitan.  From the beginning, the intent was a subtle but flavorful drink based on blanco tequila and featuring Elderflower Liqueur or Creme de Violette as well as grapefruit juice and some sort of bitters.

For this cocktail, I sought to feature the flavor profile of the tequila while hosting an interplay between the grapefruit juice and the floral liqueur.  After playing around with the ratios, use of red or white grapefruit juice, use of Angostura or orange bitters, and stirring or shaking, the final version is as follows:

South of Tuitan

Ingredients:
1.75 ounces of blanco tequila (Tres Generations)
.5 ounce of elderflower liqueur (St. Germain)
2 dashes of orange bitters (Bitter Truth)
.75 ounce of red grapefruit juice

Directions:
Stir ingredients with ice, pour into a chilled cocktail glass, and garnish with a twisted grapefruit peal.

Outcome:
I think that the drink works really well.  The orange bitters kept the aftertaste from coming off too sweet, while playing up the citrus of the grapefruit juice.  The swallow first features the tequila and gives way to both the grapefruit juice and the St. Germain and I believes maintains good balance.  I think that the drink works with Angostura bitters as well, though they are a more assertive portion of the flavor profile than orange bitters.

Mixology Monday: Calm Seas Cocktail

This month's Mixology Monday, hosted by Spirited Remix, challenges participants to describe the "best drink you've ever created," one that you have been tweaking over time.  After some thought, the drink that of late I've been fiddling with the most with pretty good outcomes uses Jasmine Cocktail as the starting point.  The Jasmine combines gin, Campari, Cointreau, and lemon juice to create a drink that taste startlingly like grapefruit juice.  I liked this drink but thought I could take it a little further and make it a bit more complex.  I wanted it to be little less about the gin and more about the interplay between the Cointreau and the Campari so I increased their amounts a bit.  I then substituted lime for lemon to make it little mellower and less tart.  Finally, mostly for scent purposes, I added a bit of St. Germain Elderflower Liqueor and a twisted lime peal.  The result is the Calm Seas.

Ingredients
1/2 ounce of Campari
1/2 ounce of Cointreau
1 1/2 ounces of gin (Plymouth)
3/4 ounce of lime juice
1 teaspoon of elderflower liqueor (St. Germain)

Directions
Place ingredients and ice in a shaker, shake well, and poor into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a lime peal.

Final Thoughts
I'm pretty pleased with the drink.  I think it maintains the grapefruit taste of the Jasmine to an extent but adds some complexity and subtlety.  My wife tends to shy away from drinks this tart (including the original Jasmine) so for her I've added about 1.5 teaspoons of simple syrup.  I might in the future try using an edgier gin than Plymouth, which pretty much plays nice with everything.  Specifically, I might try using genever (Holland) gin or Bombay Sapphire, which would add a spicey element.