When a bar in Brooklyn told us that their source for cranberry bitters had dried up and that the alternatives didn’t work for the bar’s most successful punch, we thought we’d see if we could help them out.

We tried the punch without any bitters at all and tried to figure out what the profile would need to be. In the end, it did need some spice, vanilla and acidity as well as some sour berries, but it didn’t really need any more bitterness.

We initially thought that we would make one batch for the bar as a bespoke formulation, but when we started to pass it around our sample bars, bartenders immediately took interest in the flavor. So, in 2011 we decided to put it into circulation through the experimental series as the Spiced Cranberry Cream Citrate.  When we decided to launch the new Regional Series, we reformulated the citrate – exchanging the citric acid for malic acid… substituting citrus notes for nice green apple tartness.

By the way, it works particularly well with cognac and bourbon and teams up nicely with both our Xocolatl Mole Bitters as well as other aromatic bitters.