Description
Strongwater’s herbal bitters are carefully crafted with organic herbs, spices, roots, and fruits to bring you unique and diverse flavors. They use an organic, gluten-free cane-sugar alcohol as the base for all of their concoctions. Below are more details about each of the botanical bitters.
Golden—Aromatic Turmeric Cocktail Bitters
Botanicals: Turmeric, cardamom, sassafras, cinnamon
Pairings: Whiskey, bourbon, gin, tequila, tea, bubbly water
Amores—Chocolate Vanilla Cocktail Bitters
Botanicals: Cacao nib, vanilla bean, milk thistle
Pairings: Bourbon, champagne, vodka, tequila, tea, bubbly water
Riza—Orange Licorice Cocktail Bitters
Botanicals: Orange, licorice, anise, rose hips
Pairings: Absinthe, gin, vodka, whiskey, bourbon, tea, bubbly water
Fire Tamer—Spicy Lemon Ginger Cocktail Bitters
Botanicals: Ginger, lemon, clove, fennel
Pairings: Gin, vodka, whiskey, tea, green tea, bubbly water
Native Floral—Wildflower Cocktail Bitters
Botanicals: Lavender, chamomile, vervain, calendula, other native Colorado flowers
Pairings: Champagne, gin and vodka martinis, tea, bubbly water
The Artisan
Strongwater Spirits & Botanicals, founded in 2015 in Denver, Colorado, crafts and sells organic bitters and shrubs. Bitters are created by soaking barks, berries, roots, and flowers in alcohol. Add the resulting liquid to vodka, gin, whiskey, or other spirits to create tasty cocktails; or to sparkling water to flavor lunchtime refreshment; or take it straight up to aide with digestion. Shrubs date back to colonial times and are made with fruit-infused vinegar and a sweetener—most often sugar, but Strongwater uses raw Colorado honey and organic apple cider vinegar—and were traditionally a way to preserve the fruits of summer.
Strongwater offers Turmeric, Chocolate Vanilla, Spicy Lemon Ginger, Wildflower, and Orange Licorice bitters, while their shrub flavors include: Blueberry & Mint, Cherry & Thyme, Ginger & Pear, Peach & Rose, and Persimmon & Lavender. Yum! Continue reading –>
photo: Jordan Holloway
Book Recommendation

Nick recommends picking up a copy of The Drunken Botanist
by Amy Stewart. Here’s a description from the website: “Sake began with a grain of rice. Scotch emerged from barley, tequila from agave, rum from sugarcane, bourbon from corn. Thirsty yet? In The Drunken Botanist, Amy Stewart explores the dizzying array of herbs, flowers, trees, fruits, and fungi that humans have, through ingenuity, inspiration, and sheer desperation, contrived to transform into alcohol.”
Recipe
The Switchback: A Springtime Cocktail from Strongwater

Ingredients
¾ ounce rye whiskey
¾ Calvados
½ ounce herbal demerara simple syrup
½ ounce Strongwater Amores Bitters
Instructions
Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice, strain, and pour into a coupe cocktail glass. Garnish with an orange twist and a sprig of thyme.
To make the herbal demerara simple syrup use the ingredients below:
1 cup water
2 cups cane sugar
4 smashed juniper berries
½ cup whole star anise
½ cup whole vanilla bean
3 sprigs of thyme
10 mint leaves
¼ cup dried orange peel
Instructions
1. Dissolve two cups of cane sugar in one cup of water over a low heat.
2. Add smashed juniper berries, star anise, vanilla bean, thyme, mint leaves, and orange peel to water and sugar mix.
3. Stir frequently on a slight simmer for eight minutes.
4. Strain syrup, let it cool, and put it in the fridge. Use within two weeks.
photo: Jessie Stonberg
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