Abbott’s bitters were used in many cocktails from 1865 to around 1950 and is said to be the original bitters for the Manhattan. For not being produced in 70 years or so there was a good amount of information on Robert Hess’s MSN forums. Here is the “original” recipe as posted:
5g Star Anise (crushed)
40g Benzoin Resin
20g Bay – Pimenta Racemosa
40g Cardamom Pods (crushed)
470g Clove Buds (whole)
16 Sticks of Cassia (Cinnamon)
6g Spearmint
3g Lavender Flowers
3 tsp Dried Gentian
11/2 cup Ginger (chopped)
14g Nutmeg (ground)
8g Allspice Berries (crushed)
225g Tonka Beans (cracked)
2L Rye Whisky (100 Proof)
Now when I say original recipe it is not from print, the recipe is lost in history and/or never even printed. A process call “Gas Chromatography Analysis” from an unopened bottle has given us a rough draft of the historic bitters.
I understand not wanting to change anything because this is the closest thing we have to a recipe but gas chromatography is not perfect as ingredients break down over time. A little common sense and I think you will get within Abbott’s reach. For instance, I would say that adding over a pound of whole cloves to 2 liters of rye will be clove rye, no matter what else you put in it! The amounts of tonka beans are also high, tonka beans are a cheap vanilla bean alternative that has long been off the market for causing intestinal bleeding. Not only can I not afford a half pound of vanilla beans but I think it would take away from some of the more subtle ingredients.
I started by cutting the recipe in half and have made little changes to most of the ingredients and large changes to a couple. I started by putting the ingredients together in a bag so I can smell what was taking shape and maybe adjust before putting the alcohol inside. Here is what I came up:
(2g) 4 Star Anise, half would be 2.5 grams but I rounded down, these are potent.
1 teaspoon Benzoin Extract, I was pretty lost here so I just guessed it? In the original recipe the benzoin resin is double the bay rum so I followed that rule. I’m sure the extract is more powerful then the resin but it does smell very mild.
1/2 teaspoon Bay Rum Extract, this seems pretty mild as well, nice spicy/vanilla smell.
(20g) 2 Tablespoon Cardamom Pods and Seeds, I used 1 tablespoon of pods and 1 tablespoon of seeds. Cardamom is not super powerful and this is exactly half of what the recipe calls for.
(20g) 3 Tablespoons whole Cloves, I still think this is high but it was not an over powering smell.
(10g) 4 Cinnamon Sticks, I cut in half and then half again, on paper I though this looked better, no other reason than that really.
(.5g) 1/2 teaspoon dried Spearmint
(.5g) 1/4 teaspoon dried Lavender, I used dried french lavender flowers.
(2g) 1 teaspoon dried Gentian, and again I rounded down on this one.
(56g) 1/2 cup largely chopped Ginger, about 1/2 inch slices.
(3g) 1 teaspoon dried Nutmeg, I cut this down a bit as nutmeg can be strong. In some of posts regarding the “original” recipe people complained the clove and nutmeg overpowered everything, I’m trying to balance this out enough so some of the unique ingredients pull through.
(4g) 1 Tablespoon dried whole Allspice, this is about half.
2 Tablespoons Vanilla Extract, make sure it is pure vanilla extract which uses real vanilla beans. With the amount of stuff going on in this concoction I think the average palette could never differentiate between vanilla bean and pure vanilla extract.
I hit all the ingredients with a rolling pin and then dumped them in a jar. I don’t have access to a rye over 80 proof so I’m using a bottle of Fighting Cock Bourbon. It’s low-priced, aged 6 years, and 103 proof. The Abbott’s Bitters label says 50% alcohol (100proof) so this gets me there.
It is generally accepted that the bitters were barrel aged to smooth out the flavor. I feel this is true and will be ordering my 1 liter barrel soon to dump this all into. This smells amazing!!! I will follow up here in a couple months with the verdict and I’ll also head down to Zig Zag and let Murray Stenson tell me what he thinks! Try Tenzing Momo for any ingredients you do not have.
Article and Recipe By: Mark Sexauer
Filed under: Bitters
The toxicity of tonka bean in humans is different from rodents which are very sensitive (they metabolize the coumarin in the bean to a different compound than humans do). Given the amount of beans used and the dashwise bitters useage, it should not be a problem (a person would probably have to drink a good liter of the bitters at once to go toxic). The FDA does frown on coumarin-containing botanicals (including some types of cinnamon) so nothing could be commercialized with tonka beans in them.
I’ve done some reading on them and do agree with you but when serving something, even in dashes, to the public I would rather play it safe. On top of that, I am currently bartending in a corporate environment and this doesn’t sit well. I am on batch number three now and the vanilla beans do the trick! Maybe in the future or if I move on to more of a cocktail lounge bar I could switch them out (I also read about a tonka bean grown withOUT coumarin???)
They can be decoumarinized (perhaps akin to decaffeinating coffee) but not sure about grown without entirely (some strains produce more than others with the average by weight being 1-3%). Without the coumarine, it would probably be better off to use vanilla.
How have these come out? did the barrel-aging work as expected? How similar are these to Hess House Bitters?
sounds like a great experiment.
They came out… interesting. I love the smell and complexity but after taking them to see Jamie he mentioned that it needs a sweetening up. I agree as there were too many strong flavors still coming through, with almost no sweetness and balance. I still need to figure out how much sugar to add but I think I’m close. I love the smell and flavor but bitters in general are not supposed to be bitter, but a balance of bitter and sweet working together.
The barrel-aging worked better than expected, when I put this batch in it was almost unbearably strong, mostly anise, the barrel completely mellowed out the flavor.
I will post a closing report on these once I get the sugar/bitter balance right… Cheers.
Are you willing to share where you found Bay Rum Extract? I’m not having any luck finding leaves or extract.
Thanks
The Bay Rum Extract is easily obtained from http://tenzingmomo.com/Qstore/c000001.htm
These guys are great and I get most things from here, they can special order as well.