Honest John Bitters Tasting

By the raise of hands, who knew there were different techniques to try bitters?  Yeah we didn't either. The only one that we had ever tried before was placing a drop on the back of your hand and licking it off.   So when we saw that The Rest offered an Honest John Bitters Tasting, we had to try it.  For the tasting you can choose 4 of the 5 bitters to try.  They have Aromatic, NOLA, Orange, Grapefruit, and Black Walnut.  We chose the latter four.

Adam, our awesome bartender, brought out four, 4ml vials, 4 glasses, sparkling water, and various garnishes.  We started off with the black walnut.  Adam placed a drop on the back of our hands and we tried it that way first.  Then he dropped a little bit into our hands and told us to rub them together. This warms up the bitters.  Then we cupped our hands around our nose and took a deep breath in.  It gives you a sense of all the wonderful aromas and what you can expect in your cocktail.  Last, Adam poured sparkling water in a glass, added the bitters to it and a garnish.  After we did this with all of them, we chose a classic cocktail that had a bitter that we wanted to try.  Som chose the Black Manhattan which was quite good.  Sothea chose the Martinez.

Out of all the bitters, our favorite was the black walnut.  So we asked Adam what other cocktails would be good with the black walnut.  He made us a Oaxaca Old Fashioned that was incredibly delicious.  Sothea would have to say it's one of the top drinks at a bar, anywhere.

This was a super fun experience.  Adam was very knowledgeable and we learned a lot.  If you do want to try it, make sure that you sit at the bar.  It is only available at the bar.