Cool Tip: Feel Better with Bitters and Soda

An inevitable by-product of Holiday excesses is a … choose your own label: hangover, sour stomach, upset tummy … you know. And there are many patent medicine vendors who will swear their products will relieve your problem.

But one of the oldest, simplest, most effective, and most refreshing remedies is Bitters in Soda (carbonated water).

I learned about this many years ago, as a young guest for lunch at a Washington, DC private club, where my host said “I know just the thing” and asked the barman to prepare a Bitters and Soda for me. It’s been a remedy of choice ever since, even as the recipe has been refined over the years.

In a tall glass, dispense 8-10 doses - the amount the top allows with each firm shake - of your favorite Bitters and add cold Soda water - no ice: just water. The pouring and carbonation will distribute the Bitters in the glass. Drink up!

While Angostura Bitters is the traditional and some folks like Peychaud’s (which should be reserved for Sazeracs in our opinion, but that’s another discussion!), try this with Bitters you make yourself with the Colbrook Kitchen Bespoke Bitters Kit. All Bitters - and there are many versions on the market - are mysterious recipes of herbs and alcohol. (The alcohol level, especially when diluted in a tall glass of Soda, is quite low.)

Every good bartender can make one of these for you, and you can buy a small bottle at almost any grocery or liquor store to keep at home, or, as we suggest, make your own.

Whatever your occasion, remember this handy tip!

 

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