Bitters are making an appearance on more and more specialty cocktail menus, but they tend to be one of the most misunderstood ingredients. Karen Hoskin, founder, president/CEO and lead mixologist of Montanya Distillers in Crested Butte, Colorado, explains how bitters can be perfectly paired with her company’s high-altitude, hand-crafted mountain rum and shares a few of her cocktail recipes featuring bitters.
“Bitters balance so many cocktails, like our Thai Boxer and Rum Old Fashioned, which would taste entirely different without several drops of bitters. Bitters put an exclamation point on every flavor in the cocktail. Ironically, bitters also neutralize acidity and bitterness, and act as a digestive. They let you introduce concentrated flavors and spice without sweetening or watering down the cocktail,” Hoskin explains.
Bitters are the origins, the starting point, of what we call cocktails today. “In the early days of the soda fountain, customers would get a few drops of bitters combined with soda to help an upset stomach or a skin condition. These concoctions were served in a French egg cup called a “coquetier”, which evolved into the word “cocktail”. Bitters, which are a type of concentrated alcohol, began to be combined with other spirits to make the style of beverages we now call cocktails. In the same medicinal evolution, the British mixed Quinine into tonic and gin to prevent Malaria in India. Cocktails grew out of medicinal purposes,” she notes.
Montanya Distillers recently introduced a line of house-made bitters using its rum as the base from which to infuse dramatic flavors such as pineapple habanero, winter peach, coffee, fig, grapefruit, tiki and Thai. Currently, Montanya bitters are available only at the distillery’s Crested Butte Tasting Room. Each flavored bitter takes about a month to make and is hand-crafted by Montanya staffer Jodi Harper Nute.
“At a recent trade show, half of the people we spoke with were asking about our concentrated rum bitters,” Hoskin says. “We are working on making enough of them that our distributors could help them reach a wider audience.”
Rum Cocktail Recipes with Bitters
While some mixologists keep their recipes top secret, Hoskin enjoys sharing ways to use Montanya rum and bitters in creative ways. The following recipes and many others are available at www.montanyarum.com/recipes.
Montanya Old Fashioned
Slice of Fresh Orange
1 Amarena or Luxardo Cherry
Pinch of Sugar
In the bottom of a rocks glass, muddle orange, cherry and sugar.
3 oz. Montanya Oro Rum
.25 oz. Simple Syrup
5 drops of Montanya Citrus Bitters
Add to glass and stir with a swizzle spoon. Garnish with an Amarena cherry
Thai Boxer
Juice of 1/2 Squeezed Lime
4 Basil Leaves
2 tsp. Frozen Organic Blueberries
Muddle together in a tall Collins glass rimmed with Turbinado sugar
2.5 oz. Montanya Platino Rum
1 oz. Blueberry Juice from thawed berries
2 drops Angostura Bitters
Add to glass and fill with 1/2 soda and 1/2 ginger ale. Stir.
The Breath of God
1 oz. Montanya Oro Rum
1/2 bottle of New Belgium Trippel Ale or Orval Trappist
1 tsp. of Leopold Brothers Cassis
Dash of Montanya Tiki Bitters (or any orange bitters)
The Montanya Wassail (batch recipe)
1.5 bottles Montanya Oro Rum
1 gallon best quality Apple Cider
64 oz. natural Cranberry Juice
2 Oranges, each poked with 10 whole cloves to release the orange essence
4 tsp. Cloves (whole)
4 tsp. Allspice (whole)
15 Cinnamon Sticks
4 tsp. Montanya Fig Bitters
Combine all ingredients except the Montanya Oro rum and mull over heat, covered, for 2 to 3 hours before serving. Heat with Oro rum just prior to serving.
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| Photo by Nathan Bilow |