Boker's Bitters


Boker's Bitters was a brand of bitters, specified in nearly every cocktail that called for bitters in Jerry Thomas' 1862 book, How to Mix Drinks or The Bon Vivant's Companion. Among the known ingredients were cassia, cardamom, and bitter orange peel.
The Boker's company was a leading brand of bitters until the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 and eventually closed during the Prohibition era in the 1920s.

History

Johann Gottlieb Böker created the bitters in 1828. The Boker's company was a leading brand of bitters until the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 and eventually closed during the Prohibition era in the 1920s.
Until 2009, no samples of the bitters were known to exist, and as the recipe had never been published, recreating it seemed unlikely. That year, a man showed up at the London Bar Show with a small remaining sample, which was then combined with extensive research, to recreate a facsimile of the bitters.

Cocktails with Boker’s Bitters