
How to Make Homemade Bitters - Tomte
http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-make-homemade-bitters-cooking-lessons-from-the-kitchn-197883
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kasey_junk
I have no idea why this is on the HN front page, but I _love_ making homemade
bitters. Its so easy and the output product is really really good.

Unlike things like home distilling/brewing/winemaking its fairly easy to get
to a point where the output is both cheaper and as good a quality as
commercial offerings.

[edit] My favorite recipe from last year:
[https://www.chowhound.com/recipes/sunshine-
bitters-11279](https://www.chowhound.com/recipes/sunshine-bitters-11279)

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Symbiote
How important is using neutral alcohol?

I can buy 50% vodka fairly easily, but here the 96% neutral alcohol seems only
to be available through specialist liquor stores, with inconvenient prices and
delivery.

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kasey_junk
I've experimented a bit and landed on
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everclear_(alcohol)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everclear_\(alcohol\))
for most of my neutral spirit bitters. But I've also had success with lower
proof vodkas. The more "earthy" bitters especially its hard to tell the
difference. Some of the more herbal or lighter bitters you can sort of tell.

There are also bitters recipes that use whiskeys that are quite good as well.

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steveax
Be careful with cinchona bark, it can be toxic (quinine and other alkaloids).

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Pica_soO
Use brown or green glas-bottles if storing out in the open. UV-light can
compromise the taste over time.

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lostphilosopher
What's the shelf life of homemade bitters? Do they need to be refrigerated?

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steveax
They're pretty stable, with the high alcohol content they don't really need to
be refrigerated, but doing so will extend their life.

