Name: Bitter Jean
Total time: 3 min
Cuisine: Cocktail
Ingredients: 60 ml Single malt Scotch whisky; 10 ml Peated malt whisky; 15 ml Crème de cassis; 22.5 ml Vermouth alla vaniglia; 8 dash Aromatic bitters

Ingredients

2 fl oz

Single malt Scotch whisky (Speyside)

¹⁄₃ fl oz

Peated single malt whisky

¹⁄₂ fl oz

Crème de cassis liqueur

³⁄₄ fl oz

Carpano Antica Formula Vermouth

8 dash

Angostura Aromatic Bitters

How to make

Glassware

Prepare

Method

STIR all ingredients with ice.

FINE STRAIN into chilled glass.

Garnish

Garnish with skewered maraschino cherries.

Flavour Profile

No alcohol

Medium

Boozy

Sweet

Medium

Dry/sour

Health & Nutrition

Nutrition:

One serving of Bitter Jean contains 235 calories

Alcohol content:

2 standard drinks
25.86% alc./vol. (51.73° proof)
28.5 grams of pure alcohol

Allergens:

Recipe contains the following allergens:

Vermouth rosso alla vaniglia (e.g. Antica Formula) — Sulphur Dioxide/Sulphites

Comments & Discussion

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John CARR Premium Member 1y

Excellent cocktail and plenty of room for experimentation with this one. The bitters are big hitters, as someone said, but are actually okay - tho they did trigger my hayfever 🤣. I split between angostura and Bitter Truth aromatics. Think scotch- fruit Manhattan. I was cautious with the smokiness (Glenmorangie + talisker) but will be braver next time. The smoke will def balance with the bitters and intense sweetness of the cassis.

Peter M Premium Member 1y

I made this with Speyburn 10, Laphroaig 10, DeKuyper (US) Creme de Cassis, & Carpano Antica. Given the high alcohol content, I opted to make it "on the rocks". Surprisingly not as boozy as I expected given the high alcohol content. Laphroaig 10 was well balanced; not too smokey imho. Angostura didn't seem too strong. Overall, a nice option if you're looking for a scotch-based whisky-forward drink with something atypical in the ingredients.

John CARR Premium Member 2y

Linked from the Angostura bitters page under the heading ‘Trinidad fizz’. Assume there’s a typo or name swap happened somewhere?

Simon Difford Verified User Premium Member 2y

Many thanks for letting me know, John. That link is now fixed.

Jeremy Harrold 3y

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 3y

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 3y

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.

Kristina Angelova 3y

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 4y

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 4y

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 4y

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.