Handcrafted Bitters: Simple Recipes for Artisanal Bitters and the Cocktails that Love Them Paperback – July 31, 2015

OMG!! This is not just a book of recipes for making cocktails. This book explain all aspects about cocktails from the type of glasses to the tools needed to prepare a relaxing drink. I never knew that were different glasses designed for the type of cocktail you are having. Plus this book give you great seasonal recipes and a recipe for hangovers. It also tell you how to mix the drink to get the best outcome and so the drink is not bitter or strong. If you follow this book you will use usual ingredients like rosemary springs, horehound and toasted sesame oil. On my next family and friends cookout I am going to make drinks and impress everyone. There is only one thing I found difficult about this book; there is so much of information to retain until it was a little over load at first but once you start reading Part two (the recipes) you can really enjoy reading the book. I received this product for free in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

Love this book. I have made many variations from the recipes and have also experimented. When people come over they are all interested in those small bottles in the refrigerator. I think the butters improve our cocktails. The cocktail recipes are fun to try but we pretty much just add them to the normal cocktails we typically drink.Add lime for anything with 7-up or spriteTry orange in an old fashioned or margarita.Grapefruit is exceptional in a gin/tonicI have guests experiment by making a cocktail of their choice and decanting it off into tasting glasses then put a row of bitters varieties in front of them and add a drop to each tasting glass. It is a lot of fun.

This book would be a great gift for an aspiring mixologist. Craft cocktails are all the rage these days and a good cocktail definite cannot be without a good bitter to round it out. This book takes you through the basics of what goes into creating different bitters as well as how to incorporate them into different cocktails. This would be helpful to have even if you plan to buy different bitters to try with their cocktail recipes, but their recipes for the bitters are similarly easy to follow, provided you know where to procure bittering agents (orris root, horehound, wormwood, etc). It definitely makes you want to experiment with all different types of cocktails though, so proceed with caution I guess.

If you could have only one DIY bitters book, I'd have to recommend Parsons. It has more of the history and culture of bitters and cocktails, different recipes, and an appeal to more complex flavors.That said, this book offers an interesting and useful contrast. The recipes tend to be simpler - less subtle, perhaps, but possibly more approachable. If complex ingredients (or their cost) put you off, this makes a great alternative. Then, there's something to be said for the more direct approach to flavors - training one's palate a flavor or two at a time before leaping into elaborate blends of unfamiliar tastes can make a lot of sense. This also gives more attention to the "tincture" approach to bitters-blending: start with extracts of single flavorings and mix them, instead of throwing all the dry flavorings in one pot. Tinctures let you brew each flavoring a different amount of time, according to the needs of each ingredient, and make it possible to adjust the end product more easily. With the one-pot approach, the end product is already defined before you have a chance to see what it needs. Despite the advantages of tinctures, I still appreciate the ease of the one-pot recipes, so I like the fact that this offers both.As I said, if you could have only one book about making your bitters, this might not be first choice. But, if you're looking to expand your vision of the possibilities (and cocktails that use them), this makes a worthwhile addition to the library.-- wiredweird

I grew up in Trinidad seeing my mom using bitters for all kinds of things, including drinks at Christmas time. I had no idea you could make your own from scratch, or add different flavors. I really like that this book not only shared the recipes with you for creating bitters but it also gave recipes for drinks for different seasons. It's a great book for someone who likes to entertain that goes all out by creating one of a kind drinks for their parties. It's also a great book for anyone that mixes drinks often. I found some good recipes I plan to try this summer.I received this book for free in exchange for a review, any opinions expressed are my own

Before I read this book I had no idea what a bitter was. This book explains that and why they are important to make your mixed drinks better. It explains how to make them, how to use them, and for what to use them for. I think it's a great companion for anyone that has a bar in their home to give your drinks a special touch that your guests will really enjoy having. Bringing back an old trend to make it new again.

Great present for my mom who loves cocktails but had never made bitters before. She immediately got busy and has been making many of the recipes from the book.

PAra entender y comensar a ceer es bien pero creo que si estas muy serio hay unos mas exacto. De todos modos, voy a usarlo para comensar a experimentar y aprender.

A wealth of information. Very nicely written book, with simple instructions and lots of recipes. Also has a lot of resources one can look at. Recommended for someone who wants to know more about bitters.

It has really good and simple recipes. It also explain everything in a very simple way. Highly recommend this book.

Prefect... Has exact information I needed to enhance my knowledge on bitters... I strongly recommend this for all the upcoming bartenders.. Cheers!!

haven't read it yet