Bitters & Brew

COMEBACK KID 1.5 oz. Jalapeño infused tequila* 0.75 oz. Raspberry agave syrup** 0.5 oz. Lemon juice IPA or light beer to top Add all ingredients besides beer to shaker with ice. Shake until chilled. Strain into a pint glass over ice. Top with beer. *Jalapeño infused tequila: Infuse half a sliced Jalapeño with 1 cup tequila for 2 hours. Strain before using. **Raspberry agave syrup: Muddle 0.25 cup fresh raspberries in 0.25 cup agave syrup. Strain before using. - If there was ever a time to embrace beer cocktails it's the Super Bowl. Whether you're rooting for Brady or anyone not named Brady, (or no one, this year sucked for football) this is an easy cocktail that you can prebatch ahead of time. Simply mix everything besides the beer in a pitcher, stick in the fridge, pour out when ready, and top with the beer of your choice. Simple. I'm curious if anyone has predictions for this game. I'm predicting a 31-24 win for the Chiefs in OT. #superbowl #beercocktail #partydrinks #bittersandbrew

NEGRONI 1.25 oz. Plymouth gin 1 oz. Cocchi Vermouth di Torino 1 oz. Campari Add all ingredients to mixing glass with ice. Stir until chilled. Strain into a rocks glass over a large cube. Garnish with an orange twist. - After spending the last two weeks making nothing but Americano riffs for the @homebarawards Homebartender competition, I was in the mood for something slightly different today, a classic Negroni. I don't want to hear my fellow cocktail nerds 🧐 out there say "Technically, the Negroni is just another riff on the Americano." I know this, I even wrote an article about it, but the Negroni is the OG over the Americano in my own confirmation bias. It was one of the first cocktails I thought myself to make. Although the recipe is stupid simple, I'm amazed at how much I've tweaked my own recipe over the years. If you check out any of my other Negroni posts you'll see vastly different interpretations through the years. After playing around with Americano riffs for the last few weeks, I decided to hit the drawing board once again and came up with this recipe which is my new favorite. What do y'all think? Have a better Negroni recipe? #negroni #gindrinks #campari #bittersandbrew

TRUST YOUR BARTENDER (Final submission for #homebarawards finals) 0.75 oz. Cynar 0.5 oz. Cardamaro 0.5 oz. Helbing Kümmel 0.25 oz. Suze 1 oz. Cocchi Americano Rosa Top Chico (or club soda) to top Grapefruit peel for garnish Add first four ingredients to a Collins glass with ice and stir briefly. Express grapefruit peel over top and add to drink. Pour soda down the length of a bar spoon placed in middle of the drink. Serve and enjoy. - Here's my final entry for the @homebarawards finals with @creativedrunk of @amoryamargo! I struggled with the concept for a while before thinking back to my first trip to Amor y Amargo. I worked with Sother years ago on a giveaway for his book #IJHFTD. I was just getting into Amari at the time and I was super excited to try some of his recipes. One of those was the 'My Old Piano'. An awesome mix of rye, mezcal, kümmel, Carpano Antica, and apple bitters. I didn't have kümmel, so I subbed in Aquavit instead (they're both caraway spirits right?) I loved the drink and when I went to AYA for the first time a few months later, I was excited to share my success with Sother. When I sat down at one of AYAs few barstools, I proudly told Sother that I made one of his drinks. I expected a "Glad you enjoyed it" but when I mentioned I had subbed Aquavit, he looked at me deadpan and said "That isn't my drink." I was caught of guard at first but over the next 3 hours, I learned so much about the harmony between cocktail ingredients, why certain ones pair well with others, and about balance. From that gruff exchange, Sother taught me a lot that was critical to my future cocktail success. This drink is a tribute to that meeting and to the 'My Old Piano'. Suze adds a bit of eucalyptus and honey that I get from Rittenhouse rye and Cardamaro adds a nice touch of baking spice. Cynar simulates the faint smoke, dried fruit, and vegetal quality in Del Vida Mezcal, and Cocchi Rosa subs in for Carpano Antica for a softer fruit note to balance the bitter and spice. I added kümmel (not Aquavit) for additional spice complexity and as an ode to Sother and the drink that started this. #amoryamargo #iheartbitters #amaro #bittersandbrew

COLD BREW CIDER 1 oz. Spiced citrus syrup* 2.5 oz. Apple cider 8.5 oz. Cold brew coffee Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice and strain into a glass with no ice. Top with an orange peel. Spiced citrus syrup: 1.5 cups orange juice, 2.5 cups water, 2 cups brown sugar, tbs cloves, 3 cinnamon sticks, 1 tsp ground nutmeg, half an orange in peels. Boil all ingredients together in pot for 10 minutes. Strain and store in fridge. - Last #freespiritfriday for everyone today and it's been a crazy week. With the stock market looking like a theme park ride this week, I need to calm down a bit and this is the mocktail for it. Happy weekend everyone! #mocktails #coffeecocktail #lowabv #bittersandbrew

It's time for my first #homebarawards finals entry! ALL-AMERICANO 1 oz. Amaro Nonino 0.75 oz. Amaro di Angostura 0.75 oz. Dolin Blanc 2 dashes Infuse Sassafras bitters Topo Chico (or club soda) to top Add first four ingredients to a Collins glass and express an orange peel over top. Add ice and stir. Pour Topo Chico down barspoon. Stir briefly and serve with a straw. - I'm honored to be a finalist for the @homebarawards with @creativedrunk of @amoryamargo! The goal of this year's competition was to create an "Amor-icano", a riff on the classic Americano using Amaro. The Americano is one of my favorite low-ABV. I was super excited for this competition, but quickly learned that building a memorable Amaro based drink without high proof spirits and with few ingredients, is no easy task 😬. While brainstorming ideas I happend to be sipping on a bottle of Sasparilla. I thought back to a story I read about Amor y Amargo where Sother said one of the most common things he served when they first opened was 'no'. When someone asked him if he served a rum and Coke he would reply 'no' before serving them a high quality rum in a glass with Meletti Amaro. I decided to mold my first entry in that same vein and reverse engineer Sarsaparilla in to an Amor-icano reminiscent of a root beer float. After lots of trial and error I found that the combo of Amaro Nonino, Amaro di Angostura, and Sassafras bitters are eerily reminiscent of root beer. The bitter orange and rhubarb flavor of Nonino combine beautifully with the cinnamon, clove, licorice, and root cola flavor of Amaro di Angostura for a base 'root beer' flavor that's amplified by the Sassafras bitters. Dolin Blanc helps balance a bit of the bitterness while also adding necessary body and brightness that you would expect from a root beer float. The name came fortunately after I spotted an A&W restaurant touting "All-American" food. I couldn't think of a more fitting name than a tribute to the most popular name in root beer. If for no other reason than successfully reverse-engineering a classic root beer float with Amari, I'm extremely proud with how this drink turned out. #americano #amoryamargo #bittersandbrew

A BIRD IN THE SHRUB... 1 oz. Gin (preferably @bombaysapphire East) 0.75 oz. Amontillado sherry 0.75 oz. Jackfruit-clove shrub 0.5 oz. Lemon juice 1 egg white Add all ingredients to shaker and dry shake without ice. Add ice and shake again. Strain into a cocktail glass and garnish with bitters. - Sometimes you're scrolling for new cocktail recipes online and you find one that, based on appearances alone, you know you have to make it. That was how I stumbled upon this gorgeous sour on @punch_drink. It's been on my list for a while now so I hope you all enjoy. I had some fun experimenting with more of a still life style photo for this drink. Which photo do you like better? 1 or 2? Do you like these type of photos or more of the casual around the house shots? Let me know in the comments ⬇️. Looking for some new inspiration. #ginsour #stilllife #stilllifephotography #bittersandbrew

DOCTOR PEPINO 0.75 oz. Cucumber shrub* 0.5 oz. Lemon juice 0.5 oz. Lime juice 2 dashes salt tincture** 6-8 mint leaves 1 cucumber slice Tonic water to top Muddle cucumber and mint in mixing glass with lime juice. And remaining ingredients besides tonic. Add crushed ice to glass, strain mixing glass contents into glass. Top with tonic water and swizzle. * Cucumber shrub - Combine equal parts peeled, diced cucumber, rice wine vinegar, and sugar in jar. Refrigerate, stirring once a day for 3-4 days. Strain and store. ** Salt tincture - combine 1 part salt to two parts water in jar. Stir until dissolved and store. - It's #freespiritfriday again and today I'm giving you the most refreshing mocktail I've ever tried. This drinks like a gin and tonic on a vacation with a mojito, with none of the alcohol and all of refreshment. Cucumber 🥒 and mint are the most refreshing combo ever so if you don't want to give up on a tasty drink just because it's #dryjanuary, this beaut is the solution to all of your problems. Does anyone else have a fun mocktail recipe they want to share? Let me know in the comments ⬇️. #mocktail #ginandtonic #mojito #bittersandbrew

GREEN OLD FASHIONED 2 oz. Aquavit 0.25 oz. Simple syrup 2 dashes celery bitters Add all ingredients to mixing glass with ice. Stir until chilled. Strain into a rocks glass over a large cube. Garnish with a lemon twist. - When the ice is clearer than the clearest drink, you know it's still #cleariceweek. Loving all the awesome clear ice 🧊 photos so far this week! I promise the first time someone serves you a drink with a crystal clear cube, that is a drink you will always remember. For me it was an Aquavit Old Fashioned like this one. I had just started on my cocktail journey, it was my first time in Charlottesville, first time in a Speakeasy, and my first time trying Aquavit. I didn't know what to expect but when the bartender served up this drink on a diamond-like cube and I tasted the intense savoriness of caraway and celery, it convinced me that this was a craft worth pursuing. Here I am years later telling y'all how to make clear ice at home and sharing the beauty of Aquavit. Sunrise, sunset. #clearice #aquavit #oldfashioned #bittersandbrew

If you find yourself wondering why the hell you're seeing so many pictures of ice on your IG feed this week, that's cuz it's #cleariceweek! Clear Ice Week is the invention of Miguel from @holycityhandcraft to celebrate one of the most underappreciated aspects of mixology, clear ice. Clear ice elevates a cocktail from good to outstanding by showing devotion to every aspect of the craft. Does it change the flavor of the drink? No. But style points mean something to a serious homebartender. If you want to learn how to make perfectly clear ice at home, check out the link in my bio and highlights. For some #clearice inspiration, check out @holycityhandcraft, @highproofpreacher, @theweekendmixologist, and @barrelageddad. PSA: Please be careful when cutting clear ice. I strongly recommend investing in a pair of cut proof gloves as well. Work slow and mop up any excess water as you go or you may end up needing a few stitches like me yesterday 😬. Stay safe everyone and happy ice making. #clearicecubes #bartenderskills #bittersandbrew

DISTINGUISHED GUEST 2 oz. Cranberry juice 0.75 oz. Lime juice 0.75 oz. Simple syrup 2 slices cucumber 5 drops saline solution Muddle cucumber and lime juice together in shaker tin. Add remaining ingredients with ice and shake until chilled. Strain into a coupe glass. Garnish with a lime twist or cucumber wheel - Another #dryjanuary cocktail for you today. This time one that's actually dry. This is essentially a virgin Cape Codder with some cucumber for extra refreshment. I like this drink because even though there is no alcohol is does not sacrifice on flavor, and you probably have or can easily get all ingredients on this list. How's dry January going for those of you who are participating? Fun fact: I proposed to my fiance @livsullivan94 in Cape Cod so I get extra points for this one. #freespiritfriday #noabv #mocktails #bittersandbrew

BAMBOO 1.5 oz. Amontillado sherry 1.25 oz. Dry vermouth 0.25 oz. Blanc vermouth 1 dash orange bitters 1 dash Angostura bitters Add all ingredients to mixing glass with ice and stir until chilled. Strain into a coupe glass and garnish with a lemon twist. - Another #lowabv cocktail coming at you today. The Bamboo cocktail is a simple drink at first glance: it's basically a sherry martini. But just like the Old Fashioned it's become a bartender flex and the subject of no small competition. With so few ingredients, every choice a bartender makes in this drink matters from the type of sherry, to the ratios, and even how long it's stirred. If you look up the Bamboo cocktail you'll find dozens of variations claiming to be the best. For this one I chose Chip Tyndale's recipe from the @dutchkillsbar who holds the distinction of best Bamboo in @punch_drink blind taste test. This variation is well-rounded and complex with notes of saline, bitter, and dry while maintaining a full body with just enough balanced sweetness. If you're looking for a low-ABV cocktail, you gotta try this. How's all doing dry or semi-dry January? #dryjanuary #martini #bittersandbrew

SUPPRESSOR No. 1766 1.5 oz. Sweet vermouth 0.75 oz. Amontillado sherry 0.75 oz. Coffee liqueur 2 dashes orange bitters Tonic water Build ingredients over ice in a Collins glass. Top with tonic water and stir. - I intended to attempt a partial Dry January, but after the events of the last few days, this became a screw it kind of week. I will still be doing "Free Spirit Fridays" this month with some tasty non-alcoholic cocktails (so keep checking back), but this Friday I needed at least a little kick. Suppressors are an awesome way to layer flavor in a drink while keeping the ABV low. There are hundreds of different Suppressor recipes all bearing a different number, but the formula is similar; keep the alcohol low while packing in as much nuance and flavor as you can. Stay positive everyone and we'll get through this month together. #freespiritfriday #lowabv #dryjanuary #bittersandbrew

MOTT & MULBERRY 1 oz. Rye 1 oz. Luxardo Amaro Abano 0.75 oz. Apple cider or tart apple juice 0.5 oz. Lemon juice 0.5 oz. Demerara or maple syrup Add all ingredients to shaker with ice. Shake until chilled, strain into a rocks glass over fresh ice. Garnish with apple fan and serve. - Happy Hump Day people! Anyone else coasting on just a few hours of sleep? (I blame Steve Kornacki and his statistical hypnotic powers). Here's a winterized drink that answers that age old question of "I bought too much apple 🍎 cider, what do I do with it?" I know we've all been there and it's not just me 👍. This drink was a great example of what happens when I get good sunlight and have to try dozens of different photo angles. Curious what you guys like best, photo 1 or 2? Have a great day everyone! #whiskeywednesday #applecider #bittersandbrew

MAN IN THE YELLOW HAT 1.5 oz. Rye whiskey 0.25 oz. Banana liqueur (preferably @giffard_liqueurs_syrups) 0.25 oz. Nocino 0.25 oz. Cinnamon syrup 2 dashes Angostura bitters Add all ingredients to mixing glass with ice. Stir and strain into a rocks glass over a large cube. Garnish with an orange twist. - First post of the new year and I wanted to share one of my at home go-tos. It's a fun Manhattan riff that has a little bit of fruit, spice, and just enough bitterness to balance it all out? What are some of your go-tos? I'm looking for some new ones so if you have a good one, let me know 👇. Happy new year everyone! Here's hoping it's better than the year that shall not be named. #ryewhiskey #manhattancocktail #newyear #bittersandbrew

So what I’ve learned about y’all over 2020 is that you like colorful drinks, Star Wars, and seeing more of my home bar. What else would you guys like to see me post more of in 2021? Let me know in the comments 👇 #happynewyear #bye2020 #topnine #bittersandbrew