Review: The Bitter Housewife Orange, Cardamon, and Old Fashioned Bitters, Plus Bitters & Soda
Review: The Bitter Housewife Orange, Cardamon, and Old Fashioned Bitters, Plus Bitters & Soda
The Bitter Housewife is a fanciful name for a new line of products clearly not being developed by a housewife at all but by a savvy entrepreneur. I met owner Genevieve Brazelton at a recent event and found her to not even be a little bit bitter, but rather quite effusive about her burgeoning product line, which includes six types of bitters and a ready-to-drink, nonalcoholic canned cocktail (of sorts) called Bitters & Soda.
We received three of the bitters varieties and the RTD product. Thoughts follow.
The Bitter Housewife Orange Bitters – Brisk orange peel notes, with hints of tea leaf and cardamom (both of which are ingredients). Quite bitter with a lasting citrus finish. A- / $17 (100ml) [BUY IT NOW FROM AMAZON]
The Bitter Housewife Cardamom Bitters – There’s more cinnamon than cardamom here (and in fact cinnamon comes before cardamom on the label), but that’s not necessarily a bad thing: Cinnamon tastes better than cardamom, anyway. Not overly bitter in comparison to the orange bitters. The spiciness of the product is immersive and quite evocative, particularly on the fragrant nose. A / $17 (100ml) [BUY IT NOW FROM AMAZON]
The Bitter Housewife Old Fashioned Bitters – A chocolate-cherry character here is immediate, almost candylike with hints of gingerbread, cinnamon, and vanilla. A heavier clove character informs the finish, which shows a moderated bitterness. The cherry notes are quite enduring, so plan your cocktails accordingly. B+ / $17 (100ml)
The Bitter Housewife Bitters & Soda – “Our signature Old Fashioned Aromatic bitters have been reformulated to be free of alcohol and sugar, then mixed with carbonated water for a complex, satisfying beverage you can have any time of day.” Alcohol-free bitters with soda added, huh! It’s a refreshing beverage, moderately sparkling and only lightly bitter on the back end. The heavy cherry notes found in the (unadulterated) Old Fashioned Bitters aren’t overly present here, replaced by a more generalized, bark-driven, bitter character and some modest notes of cloves and allspice. Surprisingly the concoction works quite well even without any added sugar, though it’s all fairly straightforward. B+ / $36 per 12-pack of 12 oz cans
The Bitter Housewife Cardamom Bitters
$17
The bitters and soda sounds delicious…but $36 for a 6 pack???
Agreed.
Wow – not sure how that price got to you – it’s $36 for a 12 pack!!
Thanks, fixing!
no letter grade/rating for the old fashioned?
fixed!
I tried them at the Craft Spirit show in San Francisco late last year. They are tasty but not at that price point. You can just carry your own little bottle of bitters and dose a can of soda water when you want the bitters and soda thing for much, much cheaper.