Spirits

What are bitters and are they good for you?

There are disgestif bitters, which are extremely popular in Europe, and there are the bitters you use for cocktails.

Digestif Bitters

Aperitifs/Digestifs are drunk straight, before/after a meal to aid in disgestion. Examples of digestifs (after a meal) are fernet branca, campari, jagermeister, amaro. Examples of aperitifs (before a meal) are aperol, vermouth, champagne, sherry.

Cocktail Bitters

Cocktail bitters are more concentrated, so they have a very strong bitter flavour. Normally a few drops or a splash of bitters is added to the cocktail to add complexity to the drink. There are a number of different kinds of bitters with different flavours profiles which are commonly used by bartenders for specific cocktails.

The most commonly used bitters is the angostura bitters.

Humans’ taste buds can pick up on five basic flavors: sweet, salty, bitter, sour and savory (also called umami). Adding a bitter ingredient either dampens or accentuates the other sweet or sour notes, essentially making the drink complex and giving it more depth to the flavour.

Both digestifs and cocktail bitters are good for health in that, they are good for the stomach/digestion.