This bitters gift set is pretty sweet

by Grant Hamilton

Move over, Angostura, there’s a new bitters in town. Actually, Angostura bitters have always been subject to competition — there’s no secret to making bitters, except they’re all secret recipes.

Unfortunately, in the decades as I was growing up, it seemed like everyone decided that bitters would no longer be a necessary ingredient if you were going to make yourself a cocktail — when they are, in fact, the most essential ingredient.

Now, though, it seems there’s a bitters revolution. I read more and more about them in magazines and on websites. I still can’t find them for purchase anywhere in my hometown, of course, but the Internet will help — I can buy ‘em online for $8 a pop. There are different brands, too.

But then I stumbled across Bittercube.

You’ve heard of micro-breweries? You’ve heard of boutique wines? You’ve heard of craft distilleries making small-batch vodka, whisky and other spirits?

Make room for artisanal bitters. Ira and Nick, of Bittercube, have been pushing the envelope of bartending since they got started in the biz. And that included making their own bitters. Now, they’re offering these bitters for sale.

They’ve got blackstrap bitters, orange bitters — even cherry bark vanilla bitters. You can buy all six of their flavours in a variety pack for $48. Or you can buy single bottles through Cocktail Kingdom.

But what really intrigues me is this offer:

Bittercube takes Bitters commissions …. If you have a specific flavor profile you would like to see implemented in a one-of-a-kind bitters … Bittercube can work alongside you to create a custom set of Bitters.

Whoa.

Sure, it’s aimed at restaurants and bars — but I’m sure they say that just because you would have to buy a lot of it. There’s no reason a group of friends, or family, couldn’t decided they wanted a custom bitters, and I’m sure they’d listen.

In the meantime, while I try to whip up enthusiasm amongst my cocktail-drinking friends and family, there’s that $48 variety pack.

Now, for me, I think $48 is a little steep to spend on bitters. But, luckily, I don’t think that $48 is too steep for you to spend on me! Hey — it includes shipping!

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Word of the moment — ‘bartista’

by Grant Hamilton

I was briefly skimming this mildly interesting article in the Globe and Mail about bitters, when I came across something in the comments — a reference to a bartender as a “bartista.” Commingling, of course, “bartender” and “barista” (there’s a word for that sort of smushing together of words, but I can’t think of it at the moment) it perfectly captures the haughtiness of some of the bartenders who take themselves too seriously.

There was an online argument I almost posted about a couple of weeks ago — can you, or should you, order a cheap drink like a Jack-and-Coke at a place that specializes in fancy cocktails? One side of the argument is that it would be like ordering a Big Mac at a steakhouse. The other side of the argument is that, if the bartender has the ingredients, he or she should make whatever you order — their job is different from that of a chef.

Personally, if I feel like something particular, I’d like to be served that — or at least, the local version of that. That’s why most steakhouses (heck, most restaurants) will have a burger section on their menu. But I’m also not a rude jerk-off, and if the bartender has serious skillz, then I’d like to see what he or she could do with a simple mixed drink.

But some people, once they have a little bit of knowledge, quickly devolve into holier-than-thou pricks about it. That’s why it rubs a lot of people the wrong way when a $6-an-hour high school kid in their after-school job gets to be called “barista.” That’s like a “sandwich artist” — yeah, right.

And that’s why, as the craft cocktail and micro-distillery movement continues to rocket off into the stratosphere (and, god love me, I approve of rediscovering classic cocktails, and I would kill to open my own micro-distillery) I nominate “bartista” as word of the moment.

The Globe and Mail article, by the way, doesn’t really get into anything all that interesting, except it mentions that a lot of craft bartenders are now making their own bitters, rather than relying on a company like Angostura to make it for them. I’m *still* having trouble finding a reliable source of Angostura bitters, but I was super happy at Christmas to get three bottles of a bitters called Underberg, which are similar (enough).

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