Aromatic cocktail bitters, concentrated alcoholic tinctures of herbs, spices, barks, roots, and other other highly-flavored plant material, are an essential component of many mixed drinks. Despite their historical and culinary importance and recent cultural and commercial resurgence, there is little to no data available on their volatile components, which would allow for a broader understanding of the flavor chemistry of mixed drinks, and could assist in the development of further styles of bitters. In this experiment, ten cocktail bitters including historical and modern styles were analyzed semiquantitatively in triplicate by Headspace-Solid Phase Microextraction-Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (HS-SPME-GC-MS). Each bitter contained, on average, 34 compounds and each compound was found in a mean of 2.5 bitters. Overall, 134 different volatile compounds were identified, including 11 aliphatic aldehydes, 17 esters, 28 sesquiterpenoids, 42 monoterpenoids and 25 aromatic compounds including 14 phenylpropenes.

Volatile compounds of aromatic cocktail bitters: A HS-SPME-GC-MS analysis

245th National Meeting (2013)

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