PORTLAND, Maine — Amid the locally distilled spirits boom, a new product has landed on the bar: bitters. In Portland’s creative East Bayside, months-old Coastal Root Bitters is making a splash and a profit.
Because all elements of cocktail culture are looking for a competitive edge, Nolan Stewart is adding a dash of mystery to the scene.
The former bartender at Five Fifty-Five and beer buyer for Downeast Beverage Co. saw an opportunity in the mixologist’s playbook for local bitters and a gap in the buy local economy.
“Eating well should carry over to drinking well,” the stay-at-home dad said. “With people’s newfound enjoyment of cocktails and mixologists,” the culture was ripe.
Why let food producers have all the fun?
He mixes ingredients and blends them with Maine-made vodka to make what was once a cure-all new again.
“Bitters were considered snake oil,” said Stewart, who taught himself how to make these potent potions because he knew of no one else in Maine who was dabbling in them.
This flavor extract derived from natural sources, such ascardamom, clove, allspice, orange and sarsaparilla, can turn a Manhattan from ho-hum to ah-ha in a New York minute.
“It helps guide the drink or smooth it out,” Stewart said. “Whisky loves bitters.”
Bitters became essential during prohibition, because bathtub booze made by sketchy distilleries was difficult to swallow. Fast forward 90 years, and liquor is a craft product.
With a classic aromatic on the market since May, he is gearing up for a few more varieties. Coffee bitters made with Tandem Coffee Roasters coffee, star anise, oak and chocolate is in progress, as is an Indian spice, garam masala, and possibly a pine.
“I’m working on giving it a Maine identity,” Stewart said. “The possibilities are endless.”
What drove the Maine College of Art graduate to dabble in bitters initially was the search for something that could “electrify rum.”
He approached the concoction the same way he would a painting.
“The creative process takes the same introspection,” Stewart said.
The craft product is doing well in a crowded bitters market.
“We have 11 different small-batch companies producing aromatic bitters,” Steve Corman, owner of Vena’s Fizz House in Portland, said. “Coastal Root Bitters are outselling then all.”
Recipe for Dark and Stormy:
In a glass of ice, add 2 to 4 dashes of Coastal Root Bitters
Add a shot of dark rum (Myers is prefered)
Fill the glass to the top with ginger beer (Maine Root is best)
Squeeze a lime wedge
Pour into a cocktail shaker once and pour back into the glass.
Enjoy with friends
— From Nolan Stewart
