Cherry Bitters

Another round of bitters got underway today!  I have had the supplies all ready to go, just needed to sit down and figure out what was going to go in the bitters, and determine if I was going to make this batch all in one shot, or do a double maceration.

I had compiled quite a few bitters recipes, some of which seemed more bitter than others, some with heavy notes of vanilla and cinnamon… so I’m tinkering a bit as I go.

I’m aiming for something with a strong cherry flavour, but not too sweet — hints of cinnamon and vanilla, so I opted to leave both out for the first maceration, and concetrate more on the cherry/lemon and bittering agents this round.

I ended up using 100 proof Canadian Club (on a heads’ up from Shawn Soole that BCLDB here was now bringing it it!), lots of dried cherries, cherry bark, wormwood, some ginger, a hint of licorice root, and a few cloves.  The plan is to let it sit for at least a week, decant, and then macerate again with more cherries, a vanilla pod and perhaps 1/2 a cinnamon stick…

Here’s the beauty shot — day 1

Proportions: (sorry for the mix of imperial/metric measures, but, hey…)

• 7 0z. dried, unsweetened cherries
• 0.5 oz. dried lemon peel
• 1 T dried cherry bark
• 1 T wormwood
• 5 cloves
• 1 tsp licorice root
• 1 oz. fresh ginger, sliced
• 750 ml 100 proof whisky (I used Canadian Club)

let sit for 7-10 days, shaking daily.   The plan is to strain, and then macerate again with:

• 7 oz. dried, unsweetened cherries
• 1 vanilla pod, split
• 1 4-inch dried cinnamon stick

At that point, I’ll determine if I need to add a sweetening agent…

Update on the celery bitters — lots of bitter, and 5 days later, the celery flavour is starting to emerge…