Pine Bitters

January 7, 2012 Pine Bitters

A while back I had a cocktail that changed my life.  It challenged my core values and made me want to move to the woods and make art.  The drink was the Douglas Fir Gimlet, and I had it at the legendary Pegu Club in New York.  Since then, I have asked nearly every bartender (ahem, “mixologist,” or “cocktailian”) to make me something “pine-y.”  Unfortunately, I am often disappointed.  The flavor of the Douglas Fir Gimlet comes from Zirbenz Stone Pine Liqueur, which is nearly impossible to find.  Sometimes I find Fernet Branca to be a nice substitute, but the minty aftertaste still isn’t quite right.

I want to have a cocktail that re-creates the last flavor Sonny Bono must have had in his mouth… (too soon?)  That is, I want to feel the pine.  So, I decided to try my hand at a little bit of cocktail wizardry and create the flavor myself.  Since I don’t have a distillery in my house and I hear bathtub hooch has a tendency to explode, I decided the best route to take was to make a batch of pine bitters.

This is a very fortuitous time of year to want to make pine bitters, seeing as how I had an unused Christmas tree lying around.  I am using the whole twig with the leaves.  To that I added cedar wood chips and a sprig of rosemary.  I originally wanted to steep this in gin, given that its herbal and botanical properties would complement the other raw ingredients.  But, in the interest of not meddling with the pure pine flavor I am going for I decided a high-proof vodka might work better.  We’ll see.

And now I play the waiting game…

Tags: Bitters, Cocktails, Mixology

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