By Amy Zavatto on Friday, June 3rd, 2011
Spiced cranberry. Licorice nectarine. Pear. Mexican chocolate.
No, these aren’t the eclectic delights of a particularly creative ice cream parlor, or perhaps the fantastical names given to nail polish or lipstick. 
They are the flavors of artisanal bitters, and they’re coming to a cocktail near you.
“Bitters are really a seasoning for cocktails; a way to add depth and a dynamic element to your drink that it might not have had on its own. They’re a varying and flavoring agent,” says Miles Thomas, a bartender and the owner of Scrappy’s Bitters in Seattle, WA. “The bittering part acts like acid in cooking and helps brighten up flavors.
By Katherine Spiers on Monday, May 9th, 2011
In other parts of the country–the world, even–a classic burger meal (burger, fries and a shake) is seen as something simple, so often associated with fast food and unhealthfulness.
Salty Caramel and Bananas Foster spiked shakes at 25 Degrees. Photo courtesy Katherine Spiers
But Angelenos know better. In this city, the place that actually invented drive-thrus, burgers are an art form elevated with custom blends of meat and toppings like artisanal cheeses and heritage tomatoes and organic bacon. And now it’s the milkshake’s turn.
Where burgers are improved largely by the quality of the ingredients, these new wave milkshakes aren’t just getting a makeover with expensive vanilla and rare brands of chocolate. Here, the special kick is alcohol.
By Amy Zavatto on Wednesday, March 16th, 2011
Over the last few weeks, I’ve had myriad magic potions land on my desk. Liquids in both alcoholic and non forms that promise all kinds of miracles of health to those who drink deeply of both the mix and the message. One delivery was from Bolthouse Farms in the Central Coast of California, a baby carrot grower who’s dabbling in “natural” (oh, that word) vitamin waters and protein shakes under the sub-brand name, Aura.
The words on the clear plastic (with a heartening “1” recycle number level—props!) promise a full serving of fruit, as well as a bevy of vitamins and those oh-so desirable antioxidants, and come in alluring, mildly exotic flavors like rosemary /cucumber/lemon and orange/basil. When I looked at the ingredients on the latter, it started out promising—water, apple, lemon, carrot, and orange juices (from concentrate—and no basil, either, despite the declaration of the flavor), but then comes that red flag phrase: “natural flavors,” a loose-ish blanket term that appears to cover a whole lot of things. And while the 45 calories in total was attractive, I found it to have an odd-ball aftertaste; kind of diety.
But while supermarket, and even liquor store shelves, seem to be inundated with bottles and cans and six-packs and all other kinds of containers proclaiming health promises to those of us seeking the source of vibrancy, energy, and youth (and, damn, who over 35 isn’t looking for that?), it’s really not anything new in the world or so very modern in its focus.
They are the flavors of artisanal bitters, and they’re coming to a cocktail near you.
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