Looking for some original source references on Law’s Peach Bitters. (Already have messages out to Stephan Berg and Adam Elmegirab, but.) I’m planning a peach aperitif bitters tasting in Detroit (with @Nosestradamus ) next month featuring an antique bottle of the aforementioned, alongside House of Botanicals’ contemporary recreation “Pietro Nicola Pescaro,” Rinquinquin a La Pêche, and something Dutch called Peach Bitters Hoppe. Still seats available….
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Wow! Esoteric. I’ve got nothing at all for you, other than to observe the entire genre seems to have been purely a 20th Century British/Gallic phenomenon. The only mixed drinks references I know of are from English books, except for Charles Baker, and his references he ties to experiences in Ceylon and Athens. Moreover, he takes pains to recommend Cordial Medoc as a good, possibly preferable substitute, at least if you dial back other sweetening.
Somewhere around here, I have (or had) a bottle or two of the briefly-revived Cordial Medoc. I don’t recall anything about it evoking thoughts of peach (or bitters, for that matter), but I’m also unsure the revived version had much to do with the original, either. Murky provenance.
Anyway, bravo!
I have some of that Cordial Médoc as well–and, conversely, I find it to be very peachy and a lovely, subtle accent for a cocktail. I also have some of the Hoppe peach bitters, bought Lord knows how many years ago. I’m not a fan–it’s peachy, but not subtly so and tastes rather artificial.
And yeah, bravo!
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Ah! I should still have some here somewhere, but at the moment, I cannot find it.
Thanks, gents. The Cordial Medoc tasting will come later. I have a couple antique bottles, and a contemporary German recreation which I believe is different from the Czech one that was available a decade ago. If you want to arrange a New York venue, I’ll be there.
Never mind, it’s a creme de noyaux tasting now 
still open to sharing the above bottles at a future date.
Still some seats available for next month’s peach aperitif bitters tasting at Castalia. I found this recipe in “1749-1949: The Seven Ages Of Justerini’s” by Dennis Wheatley, (Riddle Books, London, 1949)
Most recipes named “Nelson’s Blood” seem to be derivatives of the Trader Vic rums-and-fruit juices version that apparently dates to 1959, and then there is the variety that are port mixed with champagne or cognac. Has anyone seen an antecedent to this 1949 version?
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@martin , I started pulling original sources for Index recipes that call for “peach aperitif bitters.” Is that your coinage? All of the recipes save the one below—from Harry’s ABC—call for “peach bitters.” How did you make the determination whether the aperitif or “non-potable” was called for? Bonus question: any pre-pro recipes other than Frank Newman’s that call for peach bitters?
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Well, one thing about the Derby Cocktail, which came in third in the 1903 Police Gazette Bartender’s Contest, is this: according to the Gazette, it’s “Peychaud Bitters,” not “Peach and Bitters”:
The mistake, however, is by Charlie Mahoney, or whoever it was who typeset the Hoffman House Bartender’s Guide, which was McElhone’s source for the drink. That odd “Peach and Bitters” would go on to be interpreted variously as peach bitters or peach brandy,
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My current understanding is that there was a class of potable bitters like Law’s Peach Bitters and Finsbury by 1906 or earlier, that may have involved peach juice and wine, and remained “a thing” in the English context at least into the 1930s. My current understanding is that non-potable aromatic bitters made from peach pits is a relatively recent critter.
I have zero primary research on this topic and have relied on older statements from folks like Adam Elmegirab, so I wouldn’t be surprised if I need updating. I also wouldn’t be surprised if there are errors in some of my database recipes—you’re poking around in a murky, musty corner.
[edit: yep… correcting three recipes now]
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I believe peach bitters were originally, or if not originally then predominantly, a Dutch manufacture, and thus generally spirit based. I have a bottle of Hoppe’s that I got in the the 1990s that is, mmm, not great. But not terrible either. I also have the dregs of a hand labeled sample bottle from, I believe, Mr. Elmegirab in the mid oughts of vintage 1930s each aromatic bitters; they are much more concentrated than the Dutch style, which were meant for drinking, not dashing (they may be Law’s, for all I can remember–they’re in Brooklyn and I’m in Torino). Just a couple of data points.
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So here’s the takeaways from our event:
- 1950’s Law’s Peach Bitters 8.5% ABV, 10 Brix. A mild wine that segues into a lasting cinchona finish
- 1990’s Hoppe Peach Bitters 25.7% ABV, 30 Brix. Peach pit aldehydes predominate, making this closest to a crème de noyaux
- RinQuinQuin à la Pêche 15.5% ABV, 15 Brix. Very sweet tasting with no appreciable bitterness
- Pietro Nicola Pescaro 22% ABV, 17 Brix. Avowed modern reinterpretation of Law’s. Delicate peach aroma with a big hit of wormwood, gentian and herbals
- The Bitter Truth Peach Bitters 39% ABV, 26 Brix. Solidly in the “non-potable” camp, with candied peach and pit aldehyde notes
- Fee Brothers Peach Bitters 1.7% ABV, 24 Brix. Similar candied and aldehyde flavors with a synthetic cough drop experience
When all these specimens vary so much, it’s tough to know what to use. I would not consider using RinQuinQuin in any historical cocktail unless I were blending it with a cinchona tincture or some other bittering agent. Pescaro subs in just fine, but the big contrast between that and Law’s makes me think a blend of some other quinquina and peach liqueur or creme de noyaux would have a lot of promise. The Greenbriar, Peter Pan, and Fox River are some recipes from the Savoy Cocktail Book I’d recommend using.
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Nice roundup! I have some other peach bitters in my collection, but they are all typical “dash” bitters.