The herbs and spices that create the bitter flavors have been used in herbal medicine for hundreds of years. Bitter flavors stimulate your body’s natural digestive processes. When our ancestors ate bitter foods, they were often tough, indigestible plants that required extra enzymes for our bodies to extract any nutrition. By adding aromatic herbs and sweetener, we can balance the bitter taste and make it pleasant to drink.  Bartenders discovered that bitters can mellow the harshness of alcohol and add pleasant flavors, and thus the cocktail was born.

Each kit contains specialized ingredients and equipment needed to create your own bitters. The kits do NOT contain the alcohol, fresh fruits, nuts, common spices, or sweetener that you will need for the recipes. This allows you to choose your own easily available local ingredients to suit your tastes. High proof spirits such as vodka, whiskey, or rum are recommended for extracting the most flavor from the herbs and spices.

Kits may also include organic herbs and spices from my own garden such as fennel seed, linden flowers, hops, coriander, and many others. Send me a message to find out what's in season.

I highly recommend the book "Bitters: A Spirited History of a Classic Cure-All, with Cocktails, Recipes, and Formulas" by Brad Thomas Parsons and Ed Anderson as an accompaniment to this kit.

I was inspired to make these kits when I first tried to make my own cocktail bitters at home. I didn’t have much luck finding milk thistle seed and burdock root in the supermarket down the road and had to order them online in huge quantities. I knew I would never be able to use all of those ingredients before they became stale and I realized that there might be other people out there who want to make their own bitters but don't want to order a ton of  weird herbs. I make these kits so other people can have fun with bitters without a huge investment. Drink up!