Friday, April 3, 2009

Home Made Bitters, CBS

I just got this in my e-mail box: Make Your Own Bitters. Sounds awesome, and I'm throwing down the gauntlet to my coauthors. Let us all make bitters, then compare when next we meet. And readers (...if any of you aren't co-authors) if you want to get in on this please let us know in the comments. 

I went out to the CBS meeting again last night and it did not disappoint. There were some awesome homebrews- the Dortmunder Export was my favorite, with the Ginger Honey Wheat a close second. No bad beers, though one was pretty licorice-tastic. My mild went over OK and the Scottish 70/ was palatable. I met the new brewer from Flossmor and talked with the GI guys, pretty fun. Had a ton of commercial beer, most of which blends together. A great organization that serves Chicago well. Overall about a dozen homebrewers (maybe more) and about 50 commerical beers to try.

Then I drank the dregs of what was left, scored 2 free empty growlers, hit the bar, and drank one more ill-advised pint (3-Floyds Mild, which is hoppier than most IPAs). I should have had the 21st Amendment Session Ale on cask, but in my drunken state the 3.2% ABV put me off. Foolish, as I could have made it to work before 11am had I had that. Good times. If I ran into you at the bar and drunkenly slurred at you- sorry, by remembering it you clearly weren't drunk enough yourself.

Anyway-- consider the gauntlet thrown down. Start your bitters going, and we'll reconvene in a few months.

2 comments:

  1. Wow ,that sounds like a lot of fun. I've already made my own simple syrup and grenadine. Why not try my hand at this. A little glove, some dried orange peels, other mystery ingredients.

    BTW, I highly recommend trying your own greandine. We've lost something over the years and they just don't make it like they used to. It's all artificial sugar water these days. You know what, I think I'll just post on the subject.

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  2. I think the best technique would be to make each infusion separately. One bottle per spice, so find yourself a whole bunch of small bottles to work with. Then you would mix each infusion, let them sit for several weeks (shaking the bottle daily), and then the fun begins. I can see myself sitting at a table with 13 different bottles, a notepad and a bunch of eyedroppers. Hunched over my workspace, I would meticulously mix the infusions in a variety of different ways, trying to find the perfect pairings.

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