Peach Bitters
The peach is an ingredient that’s never been too far away from the best bar tender’s hands. So The Bitter Truth took the time to create a Peach Bitters using their trusted, authentic methods, steeping the very best possible ingredients in alcohol.
The result is a rich aroma of toasted almond, peach skin and crème caramel with flavours of both almond oil and peach flesh composed with zingy citrus and aromatic spices.
39% ABV 20cl.
The peach was first discovered growing in Asia although it gets its botanical name from the Persians -Prunus persica – who brought it to the Middle East. After being discovered by Europeans during the Crusades, it journeyed to America in the 16th Century with Spanish Explorers.
These explorers learnt to trade with Native Americans, who swapped furs for riches like rum and peach trees, they liked the fruit so much that they are credited with planting the trees and spreading the peach pits as they roamed around the US.
Commercial cultivation of peaches didn’t hit off in America until the early 19th Century, around the same time that Bourbon would have been rolling down the river and the cocktail was becoming the drink of choice, so it was inevitable that the peach should become a key cocktail ingredient.
During this time, The Pendennis Club, where the Old Fashioned was born, became a favourite cocktail haunt. Even their namesake cocktail – The Pendennis Cocktail – may arguably* have contained peach brandy. Another favourite in Kentucky was The Derby, a great cocktail containing a mixture of fresh mint, Peach bitters and either Bourbon or Gin.
*According to Ted Haigh in Vintage Cocktails and Forgotten Spirits.