It’s difficult to find a drink that bitters don’t make better. Their enhancing, tie-the-room-together qualities can take a cocktail from ordinary to extraordinary. But sprinkling them on top of vodka? Never occurred to us. Then again, vodka on the rocks isn’t a common beverage at Cocktail Enthusiast HQ.
Reyka Vodka is an Icelandic vodka that’s garnered much appreciation since its fairly recent introduction to the U.S. market. And Brooklyn Hemispherical Bitters is a small shop producing some very interesting bitters, including rhubarb, sriracha, black mission fig and meyer lemon. These two companies joined forces to create the very small batch Icelandic Bitters made with Reyka Vodka and featuring some favorite flavors of Iceland, including thyme, moss and Anjelica.
According to the Icelandic Bitters bottle, simply sprinkle a few drops on top of your Reyka and ice, and voila!, you’ve got a Bitter Reyka. Naturally, the Reyka-based bitters pair well with the Reyka Vodka. The resulting drink is deceptively simple but surprisingly tasty, with the bitters adding an earthy, spicy and herbal quality to the vodka.
As mentioned above, Brooklyn Hemispherical Bitters created their Icelandic Bitters in very small quantities – to the tune of just 32 bottles – but the company hints that the enthusiastic response might compel them to make more. Here’s hoping that’s the case.
Photo: Brooklyn Hemispherical Bitters
They only made 32 bottles?? So I guess us normal folks probably can’t find any, huh?