The Walnut-Flavored Bitters You Need To Start Adding To Bourbon

Whether you're mixing up a smooth old fashioned cocktail for yourself at the end of a long day or showing off your specialty Manhattan recipe to dinner party guests, incorporating flavored bitters into your drinks can turn up the flavor dials on your liquid creations. Bitters are made by steeping different ingredients like fruit peels, bark, leaves, and flowers in a neutral alcohol, resulting in a concentrated, flavorful liquid that can be used in drink and food recipes. Though these infusions were originally distributed as medicinal remedies, bitters have become an essential drink-making component for bartenders around the world. 

Dashing bitters into your next cocktail can dramatically shape the taste of your drink without impacting the rest of the ingredients, making you seem like you know exactly what you're doing behind the bar while your friends contentedly sip martinis and classic cocktails. Our team took on the task of tasting a variety of bitters that play well with bourbon-based cocktails, and one, in particular, offered an attractive sparkle: Fee Brothers Black Walnut Cocktail Bitters. These bitters carry notes of red vermouth into drinks, a flavor that is ideal to complement some of the more common tasting notes found in bourbon. 

From woodsy and nutty tasting notes that can be highlighted by these black walnut bitters to sweeter waves of fruit, caramel, honey, and vanilla flavors complemented by the earthy, subtle addition of Fee Brothers' creation, these nutty bitters may quickly become a go-to ingredient behind your home bar. Cereal and smoky profiles found in booze can be accentuated with a few drops of bitters, and hints of baking spices in a bourbon bottle can come to life when contrasted with the presence of savory nut bitters. Only a small amount is needed to deepen a drink, bring forward unique tasting elements of a specialty label, or round out potentially cloying cocktail recipes.

Plus, one bottle of Fee Brothers Black Walnut Cocktail Bitters is sold for just under $12. With a years-long shelf life, this is the kind of product that will easily earn its keep behind your home bar. We certainly wouldn't blame you if you start inserting the stuff into dessert recipes and homemade cups of boozy hot chocolate, either.