Sriracha bitters

Since I started working in a restaurant with craft cocktails, I've learned all sorts of new things. Mostly I've learned that my home bar needs to be expanded by about 300%, with full professional bar tools, with all sorts of niche brands of booze I'd never heard of before. And that I need to become a professional bartender, because then your home booze is tax deductible.

But I digress. The restaurant's bar is fully stocked with quality booze--no flavored vodka or Red Bull here--and I get to taste it all. I've tasted $700-a-bottle tequila, $40-an-ounce 23-year-old bourbon, $115 bottles of Barolo. (Not worth it, worth it, well balanced but awfully tannic, in that order.) They also have a full array of bitters and housemade syrups and tinctures, and I've added (IMHO) the best one to my home bar.

Sriracha bitters.

Is that not just the most awesome thing you've ever heard of?

Okay, probably not, but I was pretty darn excited. Brooklyn Hemispherical Bitters makes them, along with several other exciting flavors, but since they're $20 a bottle, I started with just the Sriracha.

I've already tried the recipe that came with the bottle, for a tarted-up Sazerac, which I'll post here tomorrow.

But I'll leave you with this thought:

A Bloody Mary. With habanero-infused vodka, Sriracha bitters, in a glass washed out with a smoky mezcal.

You're welcome.