Apologies are in order first, as these bitters used here you can’t actually buy anymore. Clusterf*uck bitters were named after a kitchen mishap from Miracle Mile Bitter’s owner Louis Anderman where he accidentally mixed a batch of pecan bitters with orange bitters creating this delicious one-off. I, of course, ran as fast as I could to a local shop to pick up a bottle before they sold out. Which they did. Quickly. But fear not, you can mix your own at home to pretty much replicate the same flavor. 2:1 pecan to orange bitters.
Ok, now that the caveat is out of the way. Here’s the cocktail. It’s actually Anderman’s way of enjoying these bitters in a simple, straight-up cocktail, the American Trilogy. More apologies are in order I guess if you’ve read this far thinking I might start talking about the Elvis song. I’m not going to, except maybe to say it’s a decent song. And possibly wonder how far up the google ladder this post would have to climb in order for it to have some relevance to Elvis. Anyway, this recipe comes via the Looka! Blog, a fellow Los Angeles cocktail lover, and lover more so of all things New Orleans. Check him out.
Via Looka! via Caroline on Crack with respect to Miracle Mile Bitters
1 oz Rittenhouse 100 rye whiskey
1 oz Laird’s Bonded Apple Brandy
1 barspoon rich Demerara syrup
3 dashes Miracle Mile Clusterf*ck bitters (sub out 2 dashes pecan bitters and one dash orange bitters)
Orange peel for garnish
Combine all ingredients except peel in a mixing glass filled 2/3 with ice. Stir and strain into a chilled Old Fashioned glass. Express orange oil from the peel over the drink and around the rim then drop it into the glass.
Fresh orange fills your nose as you get into the glass, while that first sip, expecting fire from the rye and applejack, is actually soft and nutty. There’s a touch of sweetness, but not overpowering. The rich syrup works well with the liquors to balance out. Lovely, simple and solid.
Welcome back (I feel like you havent had a post in a while. It’s probably me. Oh god, I made it awkward…)!
a) Do you live in an Italian villa (in LA?)? cause that first shot is pretty rad.
b) If I dont have bonded stuff at the moment, can I use Applejack and bulleit rye in a 1:1 ratio or do I have to switch things up?
Ha. No, not so awkward. I’m taking it a bit easy this month.
a. No. If you have a really shallow depth of field you can make anything look good. There are a lot of Italian Cypress in the neighborhood, but that’s where anything villa-esque ends.
b. If you don’t have the 100 proofs around, you can still do a 1:1 but it won’t have the kick of the proofs. I make an Old Fashioned with an 80 proof and that’s fine. They’re similar drinks, so you can play around without changing the idea flavors too much.