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All you need is eight ingredients and two weeks’ worth of patience.
This recipe from Jesse Smith of 5 by 5 Tonics incorporates vanilla beans into a sultry batch of bitters perfect for richening a classic Manhattan or a Vida Old Fashioned. “These bitters are definitely best suited for cocktails with a creamy, rich or warm flavor,” says Smith, an herbalist and acupuncturist who moonlights as a producer of cocktail bitters. Smith doesn’t yet sell a bottled vanilla bitters, but his 5 by 5 Aromatic Bitters and 5 by 5 Aged Citrus Bitters can be purchased through his website and at a growing number of retailers in the Chico and San Francisco areas. As for this recipe, all you need is eight ingredients and two weeks’ worth of patience.
Place all ingredients except molasses in a quart-sized mason jar, seal the lid, and allow to infuse at room temperature for 1 to 2 weeks, agitating the jar once per day. Once the flavors are fully extracted, remove the solids using a fine strainer or a coffee filter and stir in the molasses, to taste, until completely dissolved. Store in small, 2- to 4-ounce dark brown glass bottles, preferably with dropper lids.