Bitters - Brad Thomas Parsons
Bitters:
A Spirited History of a Classic Cure-All, with Cocktails, Recipes, and Formulas
Brad Thomas Parsons / 234 Pages / November 2011
Before I recently ordered this book, Brad Thomas Parsons had already written his way into my heart with his other (later published) work on Amaro. A freelance writer with a degree in creative writing, he has written for several well-known culinary magazines and publications, and has given seminars, talks and master classes in Italy and across the US. Especially in his latest book ("Last Call") it becomes clear how good friends or at least acquaintances he seems to be with almost every crafty US bartender.
Right when you pick up this book, it already feels like you've made a worthwhile purchase. The thick, solid cover, the details on the "in-between" pages, the slightly rough, somewhat thicker paper, the photos with that autumnal hipster charm you know from handmade jeans stores, for example, everything in wooden tones, with a little orange and red. Even if all this with the slight vintage character may not meet the taste of the modern-minimalist bartender, you immediately have a sense of the value and detail that has obviously gone into this by everyone involved.
Recipe for the homemade orange bitters
The book starts with the obligatory 3 page introduction by Mr. Parsons, in which he briefly switches between his personal bar history (he worked for some time behind the bar as a student), his connection to bitters and looking back on 10 years of the bar renaissance.
Then already one of the highlights, a summary of bitters history. For my personal preferences (as a history fan) it could have been even a bit (or lot) longer, but I think for the average cocktail enthusiast these 15 illustrated pages will probably suffice. In this section specific bonus topics will be discussed on certain pages, with one page each the two historically most important brands, Angostura and Peychaud's, the historically attributed healing properties of bitters and an intersting, longer anecdote about the Angostura Apocalypse 2009-2010, when in the U.S. a real panic and sellouts of Angostura occurred.
This is followed by a chapter called "A Bitters Boom", transitioning directly from the history section with the last few years of the bar boom, here nicely detailed all (the ones 2011 already available of course) important bitters brands are listed, each with a short history over a total of 4-5 pages. On top of that some paragraphs on how to taste bitters, the "oversupply" of bitters in the years the book came out, some thoughts about this specific topic and other small anecdotes.
The for many probably most important chapter begins here, "Making your Own Bitters". After some short introductory words, the most important gear is mentioned, and as in other works on bitters, the distinction between flavoring and bittering agents is explained, with about 15-20 examples of ingredients for each of them. 13 recipes for homemade bitters can be found on those pages, each on a double page, with a nice layout and appealing photos/details (see the orange bitters above as an example).
The simplest have only 3 ingredients besides water/sugar/alcohol, the most complex 10+. In addition, all recipes are direct infusions/macerations, not like in "Handcrafted Bitters", which worked with prefabricated tinctures to deal more efficiently with the ingredients.
The Autumn Sweater, an ingenious amaro drink, here on LiquidThoughts
Between the bitters and cocktail recipes is still the obligatory bar basics chapter, only the most necessary, well selected, tools, glasses, fresh ingredients. Interesting here is a double page, after the spirits brand recommendations, about the essential bitters for the home bar as far as brands are concerned. Per major bitters category, you get one brand recommendation (again, remember, we're talking 2011). The German brand The Bitter Truth makes it in here, for example, with its Creole and Celery Bitters.
Finally we arrive at the drinks chapter, which he starts specifically with the 4 most important drinks for the history of bitters, in his opinion. A "Bitters Hall of Fame", containing of course the Old Fashioned, as well as the Manhattan, Champagne Cocktail and Sazerac.
This is followed by the so-called "Old-Guard Cocktails" aka just classic, historic cocktail recipes, better known ones like the Bijou, Corn 'n Oil and even Negroni (with optional orange bitters, interestingly enough), but also lesser known ones like the Abbey Cocktail or Old Hickory. He then lists 30 new, past the year 2000 recipes, some getting a double page (photo + recipe), some pages split in two for different drinks. This brings us to solid 30+30+4 (the Hall of Fame) = 64 drinks including the classics, by the way. Here we find, for example, the Autumn Sweater seen and linked above, or the Sawyer also shown on Liquid Thoughts before.
Logically, the drinks all use bitters in some form and be it only a dash, it is nice that when specifically the housemade bitters are mentioned, nevertheless, a commercial brand is recommended as a substitute.
As a grand finale; and this I always find great in cocktail books, comes a whole chapter on bitters in the kitchen, 20 pages from chicken wings to bitters ice cream!
We end with a double page "Sources", which simply means the websites of bitters brands, stores for bar tools, liquor stores (in the USA) etc., a double page with over two dozen book recommendations for the cocktail enthusiast and a very well laid out and categorized index.
Conclusion:
"Bitters" is the (almost) perfect fundamental work that you want to see more often in the field of cocktail books. With his later book "Amaro" he has polished the small points of criticism a bit more, but even here you basically got the ideal first purchase for the bitters-interested hometender in front of you.
It is a bit of a mix of everything, which leads to the fact that one finds, for example, in "Handcrafted Bitters" a bigger number of D.I.Y. recipes and especially more inspiration for your own further creation, in the "Bittermen's Field Guide to Bitters & Amari" on the other hand an even more precise and informative breakdown with rating & scaling to the commercial bitters brands. Here, however, you have a more than solid allrounder book and especially the amount and selection of cocktail recipes is quite good for a book on an actual somewhat niche topic. Look & feel leave nothing to be desired either. I only wish there was a new and updated version, because as far as I reckoned, there is only the one 2011 edition and especially concerning bitters and brands a lot of stuff happened since then.
