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| Angelika/Mike Schilli |
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Michael The cowboy days, when a tough guy in dusty clothes, like Clint Eastwood, would enter a saloon and quietly say "Whiskey!", prompting a bottle and a glass to slide across the bar, and the tough guy would pour himself the whiskey, gulp it down, and grimace at the throat-burning taste, are definitely over.
Cocktail enthusiasts nowadays prefer palate-pleasing drinks, and to ensure that even affordable hard liquor tastes smooth and doesn't scratch the throat, "bitters" are added to whiskey, as is the case with the classic Old Fashioned cocktail. It is mixed from rye whiskey, sugar (!), water, and bitters, and served garnished with a lemon peel. Bar patrons most fittingly wear a suit from the Mad Men collection with it.
Bitters are tinctures with all sorts of exotic, bittersweet spice notes from plants that no one has ever heard of, like cascarilla (Caribbean), cassia cinnamon (southern China), and cinchona (South America). Gentian and orange peel are also said to play a role. I once bought a set of bitters on special offer at the discount supermarket Grocery Outlet, but since they tasted terrible, I had to give the bottles away. The bitters from Trader Joe's, on the other hand, are amazing. About 10 drops from the bottle, just like measuring homeopathic medicine, are enough to give even a less flavorful bourbon whiskey from the liquor store exotic notes. Top product! Of course, this only applies if you're not already pouring high-quality Scotch whiskies from the Scottish Highlands, where bitters would certainly be out of place.
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