Bitters are a highly aromatic product made by distilling down herbs, barks, roots or plants.

CMB features the Fee Brothers Bitters in 8 flavors that will brighten up any drink. It will be fun challenging your friends to create new cocktails using Fee Brothers Grapefruit, Traditional, Peach, Mint, Lemon, Celery, Rhubarb, or Aztec bitters. Mixing the flavors adds layers and dimensions to your cocktails and it  can even be added your favorite food recipes.

Fee Brothers, a four-generation business located in Rochester, New York, produces  beverage ingredients that include cocktail mixtures, bitters and flavored syrups.

Summer is not over. Grab some bitters at CMB and get your party started!

Fee Brothers sold at our store for $7.95  Fee Brothers is also included in our  Summer Cocktail Basket available online for $79.00.

Strawberry Gin Muddler

• 3 Strawberries
• 3 Basil Leaves, torn
• 1/4 of a lime
• 1 tablespoon white sugar
• 1.5 oz London dry gin
• 2 Dash Fee Brothers Old Fashion Aromatic Bitters

Throw the strawberries, basil, sugar and lime in a pint glass and muddle until the juice and oils are extracted from the lime and the basil is incorporated. Add the gin and 2 dashes of Old Fashion Aromatic Bitter, put over ice, and shake vigorously for 10 seconds. Take the top off of the shaker and pour the whole thing, pulp and ice included into a glass. No need for much garnish, as the strawberry and basil muddle makes for a nice looking cocktail. Recipe is adapted from “The Noble Experiment.”

Fentimans was originally established in the 1900’s, once again curiously one of my favorite eras. Victorian charms when recipes were simple, pure and dreams of America so large.
Elixirs, Aroms and tonics made of roots and natural extracts, rarely seen today are truly the bewitching botanical apothecary healers of an era gone by. I am simply not sure if it is sentiment or fruity sediments which measure the mark of Fentimans goodness.

During the holiday season, I had only slightly “tied one on” as the Brittish say for a teeny tiny hangover! I remembered researching that and burdock and dandelion could do wonders for your ever livin, a bit too much the night before liver. Breezing through the store I saw a confidant, cool, houndstooth-three piece suited up Fentimans cola winking at me. Being so befuddled I thought I just love a foreign accent! Upon closer observation, I noticed there was an array of naturally gorgeous and botanically brewed mixers too.

I was feeling fairly mixed up already, and then I remembered the saying “Hair of the dog that bit you” Realizing, I could not possible get more woozy, I decided to try to make out whether this was a Benjamin Button or Daniel Day Lewis.

I decided to save Fentimans “Curiousity Cola” and Sunny Yellow “Victorian Lemonade” for another day and go with the Dandelion and Burdock. The spiced enchantment of this naturally fizzy beverage was so alluring, with its unique flavor profile and pretty aubergine cool coloring. This apocryphal elixer is said to be heaven sent as in inspiration to Saint Thomas Aquinas, he intuitively knew which herbs and plants to mix as an aid to clear thinking for his meditation.

So long Ben and Daniel, Im on the mend. Delicious it was and is! It certainly gave me a pert alertness and got me on the way to work.

Crafted in the North of England. Crisp, refreshing, and are botanically brewed, they leave a natural and tasty bit of unfiltered sediment on the bottom on each bottle. A very “adult” soft drink! Also fun to mix with spirits for unique summer cocktails!

In 1900 Thomas Fentiman was approached by a fellow tradesman for a loan – a deal was struck, as in those times an Englishman’s word was his bond. All that was required was a handshake and some security – in this case a recipe for botanically brewed ginger beer. The loan was never repaid, and so Thomas Fentiman became the owner of a unique and rather original recipe for success. Fentiman’s soda’s are available in 6 varieties: Seville Orange Jigger, Victorian Lemonade, Ginger Beer, Curiosity Cola, Shandy, a traditonal English non-alcoholic mix of lemonade and beer (the alcohol is brewed away in production to the 0.5% level), and Dandelion and Burdock, which is a vintage recipe made with all natural ingredients and finished with Aniseed.