The Bitter Truth
German bitters house founded 2006 by two Munich bartenders frustrated that traditional pre-Prohibition bitters had disappeared from the market. Now produces twenty-plus bitters and liqueurs that anchor the modern revival’s deep cocktail cabinet—Aromatic Bitters, Creole Bitters, Jerry Thomas’ Own Decanter Bitters, and the essential Pimento Allspice Dram.
The Bitter Truth was founded in 2006 in Munich by Stephan Berg and Alexander Hauck, two bartenders who had spent years trying to source the bitters and liqueurs that pre-Prohibition cocktail books called for and watching most of them turn up unavailable. The solution they arrived at—make the bitters themselves—turned into one of the most consequential producer launches of the modern cocktail revival. The Bitter Truth’s catalog of bitters and liqueurs is now the deep-cocktail-cabinet supplier for serious bars worldwide.
For exotic cocktails, the most important Bitter Truth product is Pimento Dram (Allspice Dram)—a Jamaican-style liqueur made by macerating allspice berries in rum, sweetening, and bottling. Allspice dram is essential to the Lion’s Tail, Jamaican-style Old Fashioneds, several Mai Tai variants, and a number of revival-era exotic cocktails that call for it specifically. Before The Bitter Truth started making it in 2008, the only commercial allspice dram was St. Elizabeth’s, which was hard to find. The Bitter Truth made it ubiquitous.
Beyond the Pimento Dram, the bitters lineup is the deep end of the cocktail cabinet. The Bitter Truth Aromatic Bitters is a Peychaud’s-Angostura hybrid—more floral than Ango, less anise-forward than Peychaud’s, with chocolate notes. The Bitter Truth Creole Bitters is a Sazerac-adjacent bottling for the New Orleans corner of the cabinet. The Bitter Truth Jerry Thomas’ Own Decanter Bitters is a reconstruction of the 1862 Jerry Thomas bitters recipe—a deep, complex aromatic that works in Manhattans and Old Fashioneds when you want something less standard.
The Bitter Truth Apricot Liqueur is also notable—the best commercial apricot brandy for cocktail use, made from real apricots, and the answer for any recipe (Pendennis Club, Hotel Nacional Special, certain Mai Tai variants) that calls for apricot brandy.
Buy: Amazon (most SKUs available, fastest shipping); Astor Wines in NYC stocks the full catalog; direct from German retailers for the rare bottlings.