What do you think?
Rate this book
DIY Bitters: Reviving the Forgotten Flavor - A Guide to Making Your Own Bitters for Bartenders, Cocktail Enthusiasts, Herbalists, and More
Make your own bitters at home to enhance your medicine cabinet, and your bar.
Used since the Middle Ages, bitters are made by combining various plant botanicals and/or spices with 100-proof alcohol and letting them sit until the bitter and medicinal qualities have been extracted. Just a small amount of the resulting liquid can then be used to stimulate the digestive system and promote healthy digestion. This is why “apertifs” and “digestifs” are so popular—both then and now!
DIY Bitters is a how-to guide that explores the history and health benefits of bitters, and shows you how to make your own bitters at home, to be used alone or in cocktails, tonics, and even main meals.
Herbalists Jovial King and Guido Mase, owners of the bitters company Urban Moonshine, teach you how to make recipes that range from Classic Digestive Bitters and “Angostura” Bitters to more innovative bitters like Cacao After-Dinner Mints and Kava-Ginger Pastilles. You can even find a guide for creating your own unique flavors from the plants and ingredients you have on hand. Some of the other recipes
You’ll also find profiles for an array of plant ingredients , from Agrimony to Yellow Dock, with all the details necessary to craft a formula that is truly a work of art. Listed alphabetically by common name, each species description covers history and lore, flavor profile, chemistry and extraction, and medicinal activity.
Whether enjoyed as an apertif, digestif, or as a remedy to settle an upset stomach, bitters are back!
Used since the Middle Ages, bitters are made by combining various plant botanicals and/or spices with 100-proof alcohol and letting them sit until the bitter and medicinal qualities have been extracted. Just a small amount of the resulting liquid can then be used to stimulate the digestive system and promote healthy digestion. This is why “apertifs” and “digestifs” are so popular—both then and now!
DIY Bitters is a how-to guide that explores the history and health benefits of bitters, and shows you how to make your own bitters at home, to be used alone or in cocktails, tonics, and even main meals.
Herbalists Jovial King and Guido Mase, owners of the bitters company Urban Moonshine, teach you how to make recipes that range from Classic Digestive Bitters and “Angostura” Bitters to more innovative bitters like Cacao After-Dinner Mints and Kava-Ginger Pastilles. You can even find a guide for creating your own unique flavors from the plants and ingredients you have on hand. Some of the other recipes
You’ll also find profiles for an array of plant ingredients , from Agrimony to Yellow Dock, with all the details necessary to craft a formula that is truly a work of art. Listed alphabetically by common name, each species description covers history and lore, flavor profile, chemistry and extraction, and medicinal activity.
Whether enjoyed as an apertif, digestif, or as a remedy to settle an upset stomach, bitters are back!
208 pages, Hardcover
First published June 1, 2016
68 people are currently reading
181 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
June 10, 2019
I was browsing at the library and came across this title. I knew that I had tried (and at times liked) bitter flavored drinks but what was this book all about?
The conventional thoughts about bitters are well captured by this paragraph in Wikipedia: “A bitters is traditionally an alcoholic preparation flavored with botanical matter so that the end result is characterized by a bitter, sour, or bittersweet flavor. Numerous longstanding brands of bitters were originally developed as patent medicines, but now are sold as digestifs, sometimes with herbal properties, and cocktail flavorings.”
King elevates the discussion by several assertions that are a combination of fact and opinion:
"Wild botanicals are, in fact, medicinal in a much broader sense. Free from human interventions such as hybridization and industrialized architecture, they remain jam-packed with flavor and a rich, diverse chemistry—echoes of a foraging life now thousands of years in our past."
"Healthier weight, smoother digestion, optimal liver function, and reduced inflammation—these are the benefits of engaging with the bitter flavor."
"Bitters change the way our guts work, especially when we taste them, making our stomachs feel fuller more quickly and affecting the secretion of enzymes that digest our food and the hormones that control our appetite. The deeper you dig, the more you find that omitting the bitter flavor really is like sleeping on the beach all day—you feel sluggish, gain weight, and your digestion gets bored and shuts off."
The book seems to have several purposes:
• To make more people aware of bitters
• To promote the “medicinal” benefits of bitters
• To provide some history of their uses
• To give both general and specific advice on how to create bitters
How well the author succeeds will vary with each reader. For me, I am more willing to try some of the suggested concoctions. I found the “do it yourself” aspect very daunting. The items are not easily available in the form they are needed (if at all). And, if you are lucky enough to be growing the botanicals, rendering them into a useable form requires some significant time and effort. That said, the ability to customize bitters to your own preferences is tempting. I would be interested in any reader’s experiences.
PS: Not everything is very complicated. Here is one of the simplest of the recipes:
"Sometimes bitter isn’t bitter enough. We developed this simple mix to bring even more clarity to the distinctive notes of the Negroni cocktail. It also serves as a powerful cocktail finisher when you want a bare-bones enhancer rather than an additive that complicates the flavor.
"Carry some with you in a small dropper bottle to add instant character, just 10 drops or so, to any glass of water.
"Add 1/4 teaspoon (2.5 ml) to 1 ounce (30 ml) of vermouth or Lillet to quell heartburn after a long meal."
SIMPLE TINCTURE:
4 ounces (1/2 cup, or 120 ml) simple syrup
3 ounces (6 tablespoons, or 90 ml) gentian tincture
1 ounce (2 tablespoons, or 30 ml) orange peel tincture
METHOD: In a measuring cup, thoroughly blend the ingredients together. Transfer to an 8-ounce (240 ml) amber bottle and cap for storage.
YIELD: 8 OUNCES (240 ML)
The conventional thoughts about bitters are well captured by this paragraph in Wikipedia: “A bitters is traditionally an alcoholic preparation flavored with botanical matter so that the end result is characterized by a bitter, sour, or bittersweet flavor. Numerous longstanding brands of bitters were originally developed as patent medicines, but now are sold as digestifs, sometimes with herbal properties, and cocktail flavorings.”
King elevates the discussion by several assertions that are a combination of fact and opinion:
"Wild botanicals are, in fact, medicinal in a much broader sense. Free from human interventions such as hybridization and industrialized architecture, they remain jam-packed with flavor and a rich, diverse chemistry—echoes of a foraging life now thousands of years in our past."
"Healthier weight, smoother digestion, optimal liver function, and reduced inflammation—these are the benefits of engaging with the bitter flavor."
"Bitters change the way our guts work, especially when we taste them, making our stomachs feel fuller more quickly and affecting the secretion of enzymes that digest our food and the hormones that control our appetite. The deeper you dig, the more you find that omitting the bitter flavor really is like sleeping on the beach all day—you feel sluggish, gain weight, and your digestion gets bored and shuts off."
The book seems to have several purposes:
• To make more people aware of bitters
• To promote the “medicinal” benefits of bitters
• To provide some history of their uses
• To give both general and specific advice on how to create bitters
How well the author succeeds will vary with each reader. For me, I am more willing to try some of the suggested concoctions. I found the “do it yourself” aspect very daunting. The items are not easily available in the form they are needed (if at all). And, if you are lucky enough to be growing the botanicals, rendering them into a useable form requires some significant time and effort. That said, the ability to customize bitters to your own preferences is tempting. I would be interested in any reader’s experiences.
PS: Not everything is very complicated. Here is one of the simplest of the recipes:
"Sometimes bitter isn’t bitter enough. We developed this simple mix to bring even more clarity to the distinctive notes of the Negroni cocktail. It also serves as a powerful cocktail finisher when you want a bare-bones enhancer rather than an additive that complicates the flavor.
"Carry some with you in a small dropper bottle to add instant character, just 10 drops or so, to any glass of water.
"Add 1/4 teaspoon (2.5 ml) to 1 ounce (30 ml) of vermouth or Lillet to quell heartburn after a long meal."
SIMPLE TINCTURE:
4 ounces (1/2 cup, or 120 ml) simple syrup
3 ounces (6 tablespoons, or 90 ml) gentian tincture
1 ounce (2 tablespoons, or 30 ml) orange peel tincture
METHOD: In a measuring cup, thoroughly blend the ingredients together. Transfer to an 8-ounce (240 ml) amber bottle and cap for storage.
YIELD: 8 OUNCES (240 ML)
March 17, 2017
DIY Bitters: Reviving the Forgotten Flavor is a wonderful introduction to making and using bitters, those “forgotten” but ubiquitous purveyors of sophistication in drinks, food and medicine. I say “wonderful” because I actually thrive on bitter tastes for drinks (not necessarily alcoholic), and think they offer a purity that’s medicinal because they act on our liver, a primary detox center in the body.
But what, exactly, are bitters? If the desire to know has you picking up this book and leafing through its very comely pages, you’ll find that DIY Bitters is inviting. It’s illustrated in a laid-back, rustic style that has you at once relaxed with the idea that knowing a little chemistry won’t keep you from enjoying an occasionally bitter-spiked drink, pastille, salad, chutney, or after-dinner mint.
Masé doesn’t pose the question “what are bitters?” (and answer it) in the usual way. Because he’s a storyteller, he elicits from you, the reader, a response that has you enthralled with an idea, even one that’s slightly objectionable at first! Who, me, drinking bitters, and with gusto!? Yes, actually. Me, too. And to our health, daily. For starters, we need bitters to balance the sweets and the vague, sort of grain-y tastes masking all that sugar (read uber-carbohydrate) activity most food choices give us.
More than carbohydrates and their chemical breakdown into sugars, we need bitters to increase the health of liver processes. Two of my favorite bitters are likely yours as well: coffee and dark chocolate.
But what, exactly, are bitters? If the desire to know has you picking up this book and leafing through its very comely pages, you’ll find that DIY Bitters is inviting. It’s illustrated in a laid-back, rustic style that has you at once relaxed with the idea that knowing a little chemistry won’t keep you from enjoying an occasionally bitter-spiked drink, pastille, salad, chutney, or after-dinner mint.
Masé doesn’t pose the question “what are bitters?” (and answer it) in the usual way. Because he’s a storyteller, he elicits from you, the reader, a response that has you enthralled with an idea, even one that’s slightly objectionable at first! Who, me, drinking bitters, and with gusto!? Yes, actually. Me, too. And to our health, daily. For starters, we need bitters to balance the sweets and the vague, sort of grain-y tastes masking all that sugar (read uber-carbohydrate) activity most food choices give us.
More than carbohydrates and their chemical breakdown into sugars, we need bitters to increase the health of liver processes. Two of my favorite bitters are likely yours as well: coffee and dark chocolate.
September 8, 2020
I wish there was a little less woo and a little more example walk-through of how one might select each element of a bitters concoction, but there's a lot of good tips here (focusing on ingredients over recipes).
June 5, 2017
As I feared this was mostly alcohol based recipes (as should've been expected). As a low glycemic/non alcohol eater I was hoping for some talk about making bitter vinegars. On the other hand there were at least a few non alcohol recipes.
Information regarding herb usage is poorly organized and not that great (Sacred and Herbal Healing Beers: The Secrets of Ancient Fermentation had better information). That being said, there was a good amount of detail regarding classes of bitter components (alkaloids).
All in all a very good book, but could use better herbal information.
Information regarding herb usage is poorly organized and not that great (Sacred and Herbal Healing Beers: The Secrets of Ancient Fermentation had better information). That being said, there was a good amount of detail regarding classes of bitter components (alkaloids).
All in all a very good book, but could use better herbal information.
December 18, 2016
Great book about home made bitters.
Learned a lot and make a lot of them.
Learned a lot and make a lot of them.
October 9, 2020
Begin with bringing bitterness back to your palate. Then see the benefit of some of the herbs. Finally put it to use.
Worthy of a read. Try at least three tinctures and then you will have your own opinion of this useful book.
Worthy of a read. Try at least three tinctures and then you will have your own opinion of this useful book.
March 30, 2020
Great way to improve your health.
January 25, 2023
A fantastic reference and extremely inspirational - it definitely motivates me even more to want to take herbalism classes!
Read
July 25, 2025Interesting
December 27, 2024
Inspiring!
February 15, 2017
Steep durations and alcohol proofs for all of the plants in the book along with clear and concise instructions and just the right amount of recipes to get you motivated.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews