Can anyone speak to the taste and authenticity of the rebooted Khoosh and Dr. Hostetter’s bitters? The only thing I’m turning up is capitalist flimflammery, but I probably can’t avoid buying them anyway. The company claims to have lots more “historical spirits IP” in their pipeline.
On a related note, can anyone relate the history of the San Francisco Bitters Company, now that their website has disappeared?
Phoenyx’s packaging game is strong, they have a polished web site, the whole business seems quite opaque and anonymous, but the principals seem to be one Ben Gordon and one “Robert B” and they’re based in Sevenoaks. I suspect @Philip is acquainted with them. I’ve seen reports online that their Hostetter’s is very much in the Campari-esque red bitter category—as one might expect—but with markedly less sugar. The product appears to cost ~1/3 more than Campari. It’s clearly not that hard to compound a red bitter at this point—which isn’t to say it’s easy to make a great one—but why these guys would have exclusive access to the recipes and production details of a long defunct Pittsburgh stomach bitters is unclear, so I would presume flimflammery until proven otherwise. Their first release, Khoosh, is at least of an English product, albeit an extraordinarily obscure one. They characterize it as a bitter orange liqueur, which is certainly not consistent with any prior characterization I have encountered.
Are these products legit recreations? Seems extremely unlikely, as both have been gone almost a century. Do I really care? Not really. For me, this is the same situation as The Bitter Truth Bogart’s: I can’t take seriously their claims of authenticity, but I can take seriously how well the product works. So if it turns out the Hostetter’s is a better Campari than Campari, well, bully for them! The main angle for the Khoosh seems to be mixing with Champagne—pretty niche—but if it’s delicious, ok then.
San Francisco Bitters Company struck me as someone’s cottage industry that was deliberately opaque and under-the-radar, possibly to avoid potential legal attention. Regardless, they overpromised on an epic scale, and I’ve never laid eyes on a product, let alone tasted one.
I do indeed know Ben and Rob of Khoosh / Hostetters; met them through a mutual friend when they launched the brand at Imbibe Live in London a few years back.
The liquids are made at Asterley Bros in Manchester if I recall correctly, and certainly in person the guys are very transparent about Hostetter’s being more of a “reimagining” or homage to the non-potable stomach bitters but as a potable, amaro-style beverage, than a recreation, and Khoosh being closer to what Khoosh was.
FWIW, noted original-Khoosh fan Ted Haigh looooves Phoenyx’s Khoosh, and quite likes their Hostetter’s too.
There doesn’t seem to be big money behind them, and the founders are out pounding the pavement in London and further afield every time I visit.