Hess' House Bitters

1. Combine all the ingredients except for the sugar in a large jar and store for two weeks, shaking the jar each day.

2. Strain the mixture through cheesecloth. Save both solids and liquid.

3. Add the solids to 3 cups of water in a saucepan.

4. Bring to a boil, and simmer for half an hour.

5. Strain the mixture and save the water (you can throw out the solids).

6. Put the cup of sugar into a dry Teflon skillet. On a medium heat, gently heat the sugar until it just melts. It will turn brown, and get just slightly burnt.

7. Allow the sugar to cool to almost room temperature, or until it is safe to handle.

8. Remove the sugar form the skillet and place into a saucepan with the water.

9. Bring to a boil, and then simmer until the sugar is dissolved.

10. Allow to cool completely, and then add the alcohol mixture.

11. Bottle for storage.

Hess House Bitters

by Darcy O'Neil :: [Bitters]

House Bitters is the results of the first attempt on my part to re-create the recipe for "Abbott's Bitters", an excellent cocktail bitters which unfortunately hasn't been made for perhaps over 50 years. I fortunately have several bottles of it stashed away, and so have a starting point from which to begin.

This particular recipe doesn't quite achieve the results I was wanting, but I feel that it did result in a very fine bitters none-the-less, and so am providing the recipe for it here.