Cocktails with Boker’s bitters
Boker’s bitters is a historic brand of aromatic cocktail bitters marked by cardamom, bitter orange peel and dark spice.
ABV31.5%That is the strength of the revived Boker’s from Dr. Adam Elmegirab. The alcohol is negligible in the drink, since bitters are used only in dashes.
How it's used
A dash or two adds spicy bitterness and a cardamom note. It is the bitters named in many old recipes, such as the Brandy Cocktail and the Gin Cocktail. Gin, brandy, whiskey and vermouth all suit it.
Substitutes for Boker’s bitters
Aromatic bitters
Works dash for dash, though the drink loses Boker's cardamom and orange. Led by warm spice rather than cardamom, so the drink reads warmer.
Mixed bitters
To get closer, split the dashes between Angostura and orange bitters, or add a dash of cardamom bitters to the Angostura.
Description
The original recipe was lost with the brand in the 1920s: what is on the shelf is a reconstruction "in the Boker’s style" rather than the historic bottling.
Storage
Revived recipes differ from batch to batch, so taste a new bottle before trusting it to behave like the last. Nothing in it spoils; the alcohol sees to that.
