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Bitters + Bottles Subscription Box Review – August 2015

Lindsey Morse
ByLindsey MorseAug 29, 2015 | 4 comments

Bitters + Bottles Subscription Box Review - August 2015 - Box

Bitters and Bottles
5 overall rating
1 Ratings | 0 Reviews

Bitters + Bottles is a monthly subscription box that helps you build your home bar and learn how to use it.

Every month, they send full-sized spirits, mixers, and recipes to help you create classic cocktails at home. Each box builds on previous shipments, adding new bottles to your bar and new recipes to your collection.

Unlike many ongoing subscriptions, Bitters + Bottles consists of 12 shipments. So after a year of subscribing, you’ll have a fully stocked bar and an arsenal of classic cocktail recipes. If you sign up for a subscription, you will begin with Box 1. This is a review of Box 4.

Bitters + Bottles Subscription Box Review - August 2015 - Inside

At the start of the subscription, Bitters + Bottles provides the option to add a set of bar tools for $55. To see what’s included in this set check out my first Bitters + Bottles review.

Bitters + Bottles Subscription Box Review - August 2015 - Packing

My Subscription Addiction pays for this subscription. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes.)

Bitters + Bottles Subscription Box Review - August 2015 - Contents

The Subscription: Bitters + Bottles

The Cost: $95 per month (shipping is free).

The Products: 3-6 bottled ingredients plus the recipes to create classic cocktails at home.

Ships to: The following US states: CA, CO, DC, ID, IL, MO, NJ, NM, NY, and WA.

Looking for other boozy boxes? Check out the Drink Subscription Box Directory!

Bitters + Bottles Subscription Box Review - August 2015 - Envelope

Bitters + Bottles includes a personalized kraft envelope- a nice touch, I think! Inside, I received a note about this month’s shipment and a new collection of recipes.

Bitters + Bottles Subscription Box Review - August 2015 - Note

This box’s theme is “The Big Easy,” and this month’s recipes spotlight classic New Orleans cocktails.

Bitters + Bottles Subscription Box Review - August 2015 - Rye

James E Pepper Rye (750 ml)- $25.50

Rye is a classic American spirit that’s often featured in cocktails from New Orleans. James E Pepper Rye is “vibrant and full bodied, [with] notes of spice, chocolate, cloves, and honey.”

Bitters + Bottles Subscription Box Review - August 2015 - Absinthe

St George Absinthe Verte (200 ml)- $25.99 (on sale for $19.99)

St George Absinthe is made from a brandy base and is flavored with star anise, lemon balm, hyssop, meadowsweet, basil, fennel, tarragon, and stinging nettles. Famously, absinthe also contains wormwood, which was once believed to cause imbibers to hallucinate.

Bitters + Bottles Subscription Box Review - August 2015 - Bubbly

Bailly-Lapierre Blanc Brut Reserve (375 ml)- $9.50

Two of this month’s cocktails, the French 75 and Death in the Afternoon, contain sparkling wine. It’s a prominent feature of many New Orleans cocktails, and it’s a great way to add crispness and effervescence to a drink.

Bitters + Bottles Subscription Box Review - August 2015 - Bitters

Peychaud's Aromatic Cocktail Bitters- $6.50

Peychaud’s Bitters were created in New Orleans and are usually called for by name, according to Bitters + Bottles. The distinct anise flavor sets Peychaud’s apart from other aromatic bitters, like Angostura.

Bitters + Bottles Subscription Box Review - August 2015 - Atomizer

2 oz. Atomizer- $4

Often, cocktail recipes will call for a glass to be “rinsed” in a particular spirit. To cut down on the waste that comes from swirling spirits in a glass (and then discarding), Bitters + Bottles has included an atomizer bottle. Spritzing a glass with the required spirit, they say, is a good way to coat it while controlling volume and limiting waste.

Bitters + Bottles Subscription Box Review - August 2015 - Recipes

Bitters + Bottles includes five classic cocktail recipes with each shipment. This month’s recipes are: Death in the Afternoon, French 75, Sazerac, Frisco Sour, and Vieux Carré.

I decided to make a Frisco Sour and a Vieux Carré.

Frisco Sour

Bitters + Bottles Subscription Box Review - August 2015 - Friscorecipe

Bitters + Bottles Subscription Box Review - August 2015 - Frisco

According to Bitters + Bottles, the Frisco Sour isn’t especially old or likely to have originated in San Fransciso. Instead, it represents an important update to the classic sour formula, which includes a spirit, citrus, and sweetener. The Frisco Sour swaps liquor (Benedictine) for the traditional simple syrup. It’s delicious and immediately got me thinking about ways to craft my own sour recipe. I’m thinking I might try mixing gin, lemon juice, and the Lavender Lemon Simple Syrup from last month's Hampton's Lane box!

Vieux Carré

Bitters + Bottles Subscription Box Review - August 2015 - Vieuxrecipe

Bitters + Bottles Subscription Box Review - August 2015 - Vieux

Unlike the Frisco Sour, the Vieux Carré has lots of history. In French, Vieux Carré means “old square,” which is a reference to New Orleans’ French Quarter. This cocktail is a mix of 7 different ingredients, but they’re perfectly in balance and create a delicious, complex drink!

The Verdict: This is my fourth installment from Bitters + Bottles, and I really look forward to seeing what cocktails will be featured every month. I love that each box is curated around a theme, and this New Orleans box is definitely my favorite one yet. I lived in The Big Easy for a little while after college, so this box brings back some really great memories. (Though, admittedly, I was more interested in Hurricanes than Sazeracs back then…) In terms of value, the ingredients in this box add up to about $70. Ideally, I’d like to see the products meet the $95 cost of the box, but I appreciate that there’s added value in the curation. I also love that every box gives me a great excuse to have friends over and work on my bartending skills!

What do you think of Bitters + Bottles?

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The Bitters and Bottles subscription builds you a complete home bar, and teaches you how to use it. The goal is not just to teach you how to make great classic cocktails, but also to share some of the rich legend and lore that make these classics so timeless. It won’t be long until you are your own... read more.
Lindsey Morse
Lindsey Morse

Lindsey is a professional baker, cold brew coffee addict, and rosé aficionado who loves writing about food and wine. When she’s not sharing her love of subscription boxes with the world, you’ll find her in the podcasting studio, perfecting her cake decorating techniques, or cursing her way through the New York Times daily crossword puzzle. 


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4 comments

Callie

This is a cool box. The website says it is only $85 a month, so the value differential is less.

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Lindsey

Thanks for the comment, Callie! It looks like they’ve lowered the cost of the box- I’ll make sure the new price is reflected in my next review. 🙂

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coffeeslag

They’ve lowered the price of the subscription to $85 but now charge an automatic $23 shipping which brings the total to $108. I emailed them about the discrepancy (in their FAQ’s they had noted that shipping was free). This is the response I received:

Wow, thank you for catching that! We are in the process of updating our site, and clearly there are some changes that should have been published that haven’t been yet! It should be up and running incrementally over the next several days, but that particular section has been updated.

So here is the new deal: we are relaunching our subscription service. It was great, but now it is going to knock someone’s socks off.

The subscription still includes 4-6 bottles every month, and 5 classic cocktail recipes. Instead of doing a lightweight history lesson of each cocktail, we are delving more into the technique of how certain cocktails are built, and suggestions on how to tinker, along with what flavors play well together.

The new price for the subscription itself is $85 which allows us to seriously upgrade the ingredients. And the shipping is now not included, but an additional fee, or free if you pick up in store.

Sort of Ina Garten meets Alton Brown.

Anywho, thank you for catching our clunky website updates, and we do appreciate your patience.

Happy mixing!

Meredith

Melissa

I wish I lived in a state this shipped to – even though it’s under value it would be worth it to me to have the recipes in hand and not have to go hunting them or the ingredients down! Maybe I can have it sent to my MIL – be a good excuse to see her at least once a month!

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