Bitter Jean

Difford’s Guide
Discerning Drinkers (51 ratings)

Serve in a Coupe glass

Ingredients:
2 oz Speyside single malt Scotch whisky
13 oz Torabhaig Peated Single Malt Whisky
12 oz Joseph Cartron Double Crème de Cassis de Bourgogne
34 oz Carpano Antica Formula Vermouth
8 dash Angostura Aromatic Bitters
× 1 1 serving
Read about cocktail measures and measuring

How to make:

  1. Select and pre-chill a Coupe glass.
  2. Prepare garnish of Two Luxardo Maraschino Cherries on stick.
  3. STIR all ingredients with ice.
  4. FINE STRAIN into chilled glass.

Allergens:

Recipe contains the following allergens:

Strength & taste guide:

No alcohol
Medium
Boozy
Strength 9/10
Sweet
Medium
Dry/sour
Sweet to sour 7/10

Review:

Scotch malt whisky, and particularly peated malt, balance and work brilliantly with rich crème de cassis and full-bodied vermouth, helped by a generous dose of aromatic bitters.

View readers' comments

History:

Adapted from a recipe discovered in 2017 at Soho House in London, England.

Nutrition:

One serving of Bitter Jean contains 235 calories

Alcohol content:

  • 2 standard drinks
  • 25.97% alc./vol. (25.97° proof)
  • 28.6 grams of pure alcohol

Difford’s Guide remains free-to-use thanks to the support of the brands in green above. Values stated for alcohol and calorie content, and number of drinks an ingredient makes should be considered approximate.

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John CARR’s Avatar John CARR
27th September 2023 at 11:54
Linked from the Angostura bitters page under the heading ‘Trinidad fizz’. Assume there’s a typo or name swap happened somewhere?
Simon Difford’s Avatar Simon Difford
27th September 2023 at 13:19
Many thanks for letting me know, John. That link is now fixed.
Jeremy Harrold’s Avatar Jeremy Harrold
7th September 2023 at 23:50
8 Dashes of Angostura was a step too far for me - 4 was just right.
A superb drink with a perfect balance of the two Whiskies and red fruit brought together with the bitters… Classy!
T H’s Avatar T H
27th April 2023 at 19:58
Lovely drink. Used just peaty whisky but same proportions for the rest and it was delicious. Strong but nice balance of bitter, peat & sweet.
Jakub Piechowicz ’s Avatar Jakub Piechowicz
27th April 2023 at 12:37
Definitely not light and easy cocktail. It has seriousness and gravity. In My case craigellachie 13 (50ml),octomore 13.2, giffard cassis noir de bourgogne, punt e mes and 3 generous dashes of angostura.
17th March 2023 at 19:47
I made this with Laphroaig and ordinary sweet vermouth (Martini), halved the bitters to 4 dashes and it was absolutely amazing. New favourite. You do need to like the Smokey whiskey to appreciate this cocktail though. Even with 10mil this was dominating the drink.
Don Durgle’s Avatar Don Durgle
9th August 2022 at 00:44
Flavors are pleasant enough, but possesses a notable astringency that's a real turn-off for me. Probably a result of the heavy dose of angostura bitters, which in turn may be a necessary counterbalance to the cassis.
Dee Stump’s Avatar Dee Stump
19th May 2022 at 05:56
The only Speyside I have is Aberlour A'bunadh, so I scaled back from 60ml to 45ml. I used Ardbeg Uigeadial, La Copa vermouth, a pretty dry cassis, and Jerry Thomas bitters as I so prefer them to Angostura. It's a drink where all the players are heavy hitters, but they support each other well. The finish is honestly never ending.
Alex Hayes’ Avatar Alex Hayes
17th April 2022 at 01:11
I made this with a shitty blended scotch (Mash Cut), no peated scotch, and Dolin sweet and I swear to god the aftertaste was Kielbasa. I probably won't make this again unless I have much higher quality ingredients.
3rd February 2022 at 00:39
Nicely well rounded, boozy cocktail. Warming and richly flavored. Sweet, but we’ll balanced.
Avatar

Anonymous

5th December 2021 at 15:06
So I gave this one a try… Did not have all at home. So I used Punt e Mes for Vermouth; Italian Mirto for Cassis. Perhaps quite different from this cocktail, I ended up with a delicate one that I, in any case, liked.