[PDX] Where can I buy orange bitters?
I've been looking for a source of the elusive, near-extinct orange bitters for cocktails. I've only been able to find one brand, Fee Bros, and I'm wondering if there's anywhere locally that carries them. Does anyone on this board know?
If not, I will try to mail order, but I don't know if they'll make me buy a case. If they do, is anyone interested in going in on that purchase with me? I will get a price estimate as soon as possible.
By Freddy
on Feb 16, 2005 06:04 PM
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Here's a recipe to make your own....
http://www.webtender.com/db/drink/4117
Link: http://spaces.msn.com/members/culinar...
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Well, I've read plenty about bitters (I like this thread: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?s...), and I've found recipes for Gary Regan's bitters recipes, but they all seem kind of difficult. Gentian and burnt sugar and all that. Have you made them with success?
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No I've never made them. (Honestly, I'd probably just substitute Angostora Bitters or maybe a combo of angostora and orange water.)
But this recipe seemed pretty easy and with fairly common ingrediants. The only downfall is the time involved.
Have you checked with any local bartenders to see what they would recommend? I'm in Seattle, otherwise I'd point you to a couple guys who could help out.
Link: http://spaces.msn.com/members/culinar...
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it seems to me the question shifts from "where can i get orange bitters" to "where can i get a half pound of dried seville orange peel." Is that stuff easy to find?
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You can buy Seville oranges in season from New Seasons every year, and maybe Pastaworks, but the season is past.
I emailed Fee Bros a while back about some other stuff they make (grenadine with actual pomogranite in it) and they recommended Uptown as a source, so I'm guessing you can find orange bitters there too. I've also purchased it at the store downtown, maybe called 5th Ave Liquors? But this was a couple of years ago. The store on Hawhthorn and 12th carries a lot of high end stuff, and things for classic cocktails (more then one brand of maraschino, Plymouth gin in 1 L bottles, etc) but I've never noticed the bitters, but then I haven't been looing for them. A bottle tends to last a while. I like their Old Fashioned bitters quite well too.
regards,
trillium
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FYI: The liquor store on 12th & Hawthorne doesn't stock orange bitters. I'll check Uptown next
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Freddy, thanks for coming back and letting us know that!
I like that liquor store, BTW, they seem to have a lot more choices - especially the high end stuff.
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Good news! The liquor store on SW 10th carries Fee Bros Orange Bitters (don't know the official name, but it's the one by the library). You have to ask for it; they have it in the back.
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Hey Freddy,
I work just around the corner from there. It is called, fittingly enough, "Tenth Avenue Liquor".
Glad you were successful in your quest!
Yoroshiku,
Andy
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Interesting stuff, never heard of it, though.
I'd start by contacting Fee Bros. I'd be surprised if at least a restaurant supply company here didn't carry it.
If that leads nowhere, grocery stores like New Seasons or Wild Oats will sometimes order one-off products for you if you ask nicely.
And if that's a dead end, call around to bars like Higgens, 820, Bluehour, and Saucebox to see if they can help. Bartenders there are creative, well-travelled folks who know their stuff.
Good luck, and do tell if you find it. I might buy a bottle myself.
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Uptown liquor in Northwest has a full line of Fee Brothers Bitters. It's up in the Uptown Shopping Center, next to Elephants
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yeah, i think you can get Fee's aromatic, orange, peach and mint bitters all at uptown liquor. i like the aromatic as a change of pace from angostura, the orange bitters is quite nice, you'll definitely have fun with it. i've tried the peach bitters in a xeres cocktail, but not my cup of tea. mint bitters i don't understand at all. also: peychaud's bitters for sazeracs!! and, plain old italian amaro!
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I have Peychaud's already, and use Campari often in drinks. I understand that everyone hates the mint (and I had even heard they'd stopped making it), so I'll hold off. I was wondering if the aromatics are different from Angostura, since they say they're for old-fashioneds. You say they are different?
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yup, to my taste Fee's aromatic is fresher, stronger, spicier. I cut back a bit on my dashes, compared to angostura, but I like both depending on my mood.
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A dash of orange bitters in a martini has a wonderful smoothing effect. I get mine in Seattle, in the Italian food market on the first floor in the Pike St. Market; I don't recall the name.
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