Bar Party 101: Tinctures

If your local barman starts prepping your “dry martini up, twist” the second you walk through the lounge door, maybe it’s time to evolve your habit (gulp). We suggest taking a time out just long enough to be educated in art of creating tinctures, bitters, sours, tonics and syrups at home — it’s a cool party trick and if you don’t like it, we promise you can go back to the basics. Our mixology mentors, Partners Nicholas Kosevich and Ira Koplowitz of Bittercube, turned textbook schooling on its head in this stylish series that will have you on the cutting-edge of cocktail slinging (trust us, we never once said, “the dog drank my homework”).

what are tinctures?

Nick and Ira: Tinctures, or extracts, are substances with a single-flavor profile that are combined with high-proof alcohol such as neutral grain spirits like Everclear, and less frequently in rums or bourbons. A good example is the oils found in herbs, citrus rinds, and spices, which are soluble in alcohol. When infusing high-proof spirits with large amounts of these types of single flavors, you can create a highly potent mixture that can drastically affect both the flavor and aroma of drinks, even when used sparingly.

sort of similar to bitters …

Yes, though bitters are softened with a finishing agent like sugar or honey. Tinctures are left at a high proof.

how do you incorporate tinctures into cocktail mixing?

Generally, we’re using them in two ways. First, we use tinctures as aromatic garnish, laid on top of a cocktail with a dropper. Or we’re incorporating them into the mixing process to add a flavor profile. Often, both methods can be used.

what are some basic tincture recipes we could try making at home?

We start with only a small amount of Everclear, this is the most important part. For citrus tinctures, fill a 10 ounce jar 3/4 full with Everclear, then fill the jar with the skin of citrus, either peeled or microplaned. You want the jar to be pretty full of citrus is about as exact as we can say. With citrus, the flavors may take days to extract. Watch for color changes. In our experience with citrus, it is not always necessary to take the citrus out of the tincture, after the flavors extract, the citrus can stay in the Everclear, giving the tincture a distinctive look. Herb tinctures are going to happen a little quicker. The rosemary tincture that we use is done in a jar not too much larger than a test tube. Place one large sprig of rosemary in the tube and fill it with Everclear, probably about an 1/8 of a cup. Watch for the rosemary to start to leech it’s color and as soon as you have a bright green liquid you should remove the rosemary so as not to create a bitter flavor. For our Cocoa Nib Liqueur, place 1/4 cup of nibs in a 10 ounce jar and fill the jar with Everclear. This tincture takes a lot longer than the others. What you’re looking for is for the nibs to start to break down. Use gravity to filter this one by letting it rest and pulling off of the top. There really is no exact science to making tinctures.

since there’s no recipe, what’s the best advice for you’ve got for beginners?

The skill of “trial and error.” The most important thing to think about is that different items need more time in the alcohol to take effect than others do. For example, a fresh herb tincture may only take a few hours, while a dried whole spice one may take days or even weeks. Rosemary takes about 12 hours, but allspice could take two days. When making concentrated flavors, it’s hard to mess up something beyond repair.

how do you put your own distinctive spin creating and mixing with tinctures?

We have basic truths about how we create and develop flavor profiles in cocktails and if you look our drink menus, you can see a symbiotic relationship that a tincture will have with other ingredients. We created a Buddha’s Hand tincture, which is a very distinct and unique citrus flavor. Finding ways to bring that flavor to the forefront of a cocktail without it being overpowering is tricky and something that takes time to master.

so just a tiny drop goes a long way …

When using concentrated single-profile flavors like tinctures, it’s easy to over do it. That’s why we measure everything in drops. At most we’re using a dozen or so drops of any one tincture in a cocktail. We have the classic Milk Punch on our winter cocktail menu at Bacchus. We use brandy and black strap rum as well as our own bourbon-vanilla tincture in the cocktail. We use enough vanilla extract to draw a line between the brandy and the rum, but not too much, so that the vanilla overpowers the other flavors in the cocktail.

so what flavor tinctures are you currently creating?

Rosemary, cocoa nib, Buddha’s Hand, orange, lemon, lime, bourbon-vanilla.

and can tinctures be used as garnish?

In the past we’ve used tinctures as part of a garnish, as in placing a few drops on top of a floating citrus wheel, or on the top of a cocktail. The actual presentation is impressive to someone that has never seen a bartender wield a vile and dropper. The care and look of it being dropped into a drink goes a long way.

we will be making them at home, but for those who may not want to, are there tinctures available for purchase that we should put on our radar?

You can send us an e-mail and we can send you samples of some of our work. There’s no one really selling tinctures specifically for cocktail usage right now.

which of your signature cocktails, highlighting tinctures, should we be sipping?

The Count of Nepal and the 21st Century Cocktail are two Bittercube originals with tinctures — we also like the classic Milk Punch.

21st Century Cocktail

• 1 1/2 ounces Death’s Door Gin
• 1/2 ounce Lillet Rouge
• 1/2 ounce lemon
• 1/4 ounce Bittercube Cocoa Nib Liqueur (or a quality Creme de Cacao)
• 1/8 ounce simple syrup
• 3 drops Cocoa Nib Tincture

1. Shake, serve up.

Count of Nepal

• 1 1/2 ounces Rehorst Gin
• 1/2 ounce Luxardo Maraschino
• 1/2 ounce Luxardo Bitter
• 1/4 ounce simple syrup
• 3 drops Buddha’s Hand Tincture, Garnish

1. Stir, serve up, garnished with 3 drops Buddha’s Hand Tincture.

Bourbon-Vanilla Tincture

• 8 Madagascar vanilla beans, dissected, seeds scraped
• Bourbon (Jim Beam is fine)

1. Place dissected beans and seeds into a 10-ounce jar, fill to the top with bourbon. This one takes a while. Agitate daily and soon there will be a viscosity to the liquid that clearly wasn’t there when it was just bourbon, and it will smell intensely of vanilla. Pairs well with Classic Milk Punch.