At neighborhood taquerias throughout Mexico, you’ll find barrels filled with a magical brew called Tepache. Mildly alcoholic, this beverage is made by fermenting pineapple rinds along with cloves, cinnamon, allspice and piloncillo. Some recipes use a little bit of beer to kick off fermentation as well.
Extremely tasty and refreshing, Tepache is also extremely unstable – kept cold, it’s good for less than a week before the natural yeast on the rinds kicks into overdrive and turns it into a very tasty vinegar.
We’ve taken a traditional Tepache recipe and turned it into a 40% Alc./Vol. liqueur. Refreshing, try serving it with a splash of soda water or work it into a variety of tequila and mescal drinks.
Bitters are making their mark on the cocktail scene. In cities like New York, Boston and San Francisco, cocktail enthusiasts and bartenders are rediscovering long lost recipes and coming up with new signature flavors which help create the palate of the New American Cocktail.
While living in San Francisco in early 2007, Avery and Janet Glasser used high proof spirit and a variety of herbs, peels and spices to create an extract of a traditional Mexican cooking sauce. This extract became the prototype recipe for the Xocolatl Mole Bitters.
The summer of 2010 marked a dramatic rebirth for Bittermens: winding down previous licensing agreements, striking new partnerships, developing new products and most importantly, leasing a commercial kitchen. Today, Bittermens products can be found on almost every continent – we’re still working on Antarctica.
Bittermens also consults with bars and restaurants looking to develop signature in-house formulations.
