Rhubarb Bitters
Rhubarb Bitters, Batch 01, 08/02/2020
Making my own bitters has been on my list for a while now and this bottle of high proof Everclear was screaming to be used! While walking through the grocery store I saw a few stocks of rhubarb and knew what I had to make. So I grabbed them and started researching how to make homemade rhubarb bitters! I found a recipe that looked easy enough on Imbibe, made by Greg Seider, and followed the instructions loosely. The results were fantastic! It’s a very light mix of bitterness, spice, and sweet. The rhubarb shines through and the spices help to boost it up.
Try it out and let me know what you think.
Difficulty Level
Easy
Time
2 Weeks
Ingredients
3 Cloves
5 Allspice berries
1 Staranise
2oz Agave nectar
3 Rhubarb stalks
1 Navel orange
1 Ruby grapefruit
1 cinnamon stick
1 Bottle of high proof Everclear (or another high proof grain alcohol)
Combine and Steep
We are only using the pinkish colored stalks, so trim off any parts you don’t want. Don’t use the leaves, they’re poisonous! Wash the rhubarb stalks and slice them into 1/4-1/2 inch pieces.
Zest one navel orange and 1/2 a meduim sized ruby grapefruit. Be sure to not include the white pith!
Put the rhubarb and zest in a large airtight container and add in one cinnamon stick. Cover with grain alcohol - I used an entire bottle of 190 proof Everclear. Unless you plan on using a ton or giving this away as a gift, you probably won’t need this much. Store in a cool dark place for 1 week and shake it daily.
After one week add 3 cloves and 5 allspice berries. I add these in later because I didn’t want them to take over. Continue to store this in a cool dark place shaking daily. 4 days later add one star anise, then store again shaking daily.
Strain
Three days later (a total of 2 weeks from start to finish) strain the ingredients through a coffee filter or a fine mesh strainer. I went through 3 coffee filters- they tend to get gunked up pretty quick. Maybe cheesecloth will be the way to go in the future.
This made about 25 ounces of bitters. To that I added 2 ounces of agave nectar and whisked to combine. Greg Seider’s recipe called for a 2:1 ratio bitters to water; however, I left that out. I wanted my bitters to be pungent.
Rhubarb Bitters, Batch 01, 08/02/2020
Bottle
Sterilize your bottles by boiling them in water for 5 minutes. Allow the water to cool before taking them out to dry. Bottle them up and enjoy!
Store in a cool dark place, not in direct sunlight, and they will last for… well, forever. This was pretty tasty though. I’ve been adding it to my sparkling water and I can see this working well in just about any cocktail. So it likely won’t last that long.
