Your Favorite Bourbon Cocktail Could Use A Boost From Chocolate Bitters

Add a dash of chocolate bitters to your stirred or shaken bourbon cocktails

Stirred cocktails such as the Old Fashioned, Manhattan, or Boulevardier can be enhanced with chocolate bitters, which complement the bold flavors of these classic drinks. Begin with our Old Fashioned recipe and simply replace the regular bitters with chocolate bitters for a refreshing twist on a timeless favorite. The Left Hand cocktail—a variation of the Boulevardier created by New York City bartender Sam Ross—incorporates chocolate bitters into a blend of bourbon, Campari, and sweet vermouth, offering a more complex interpretation of this Prohibition-era classic.

While chocolate bitters are excellent in stirred cocktails, they also shine in shaken ones. Shaken cocktails frequently feature citrus, which might initially seem incompatible with chocolate. However, there’s a long-standing tradition of pairing these flavors in desserts, such as the use of orange zest in chocolate chip cookies. Chocolate can effectively balance the acidity of citrus fruits. For example, adding chocolate bitters to a citrus-based bourbon cocktail enhances the flavor profile and adds depth. In the Kentucky Chocolate—a twist on the whisky sour from the YouTube channel "Common Man Cocktails"—the chocolate bitters introduce a rich chocolate flavor to this smooth cocktail made with bourbon and sour mix. Grab some chocolate bitters, and you might just unleash your inner mixologist.