Bittermens Orchard Street Celery Bitters 147ml

Though they love pickles at Bittermens Central, they never really understood the allure of the pickleback – pickles and beer are a great combination. Just keep the pickles on the plate and the booze in the glass.

Yet, for as much as they may not understand the pickleback, during colonial times, shrubs were extremely common – vinegar-based refreshers, many times combined with alcohol or allowed to ferment so they had a bit of a kick. Maybe they’re just trying to find a way back to their cocktail roots.

Talking about roots, many families who emigrated from Eastern Europe to New York in the late 1800s or early 1900s probably spent some time in the immigrant tenements in the Lower East Side. Though most of the old world has been replaced by people selling cheap accessories, there is (until recently, unfortunately) Guss’ Pickles, a pickle purveyor since 1910 and Russ and Daughters – one of the last appetizing shops, who recently started to make a really tasty beet shrub.

Thinking about the Lower East Side, one of the classic flavours during the tenement era was Dr Brown’s Cel-Ray Soda, a celery soda so popular during the ’30s, it was nicknamed the Jewish Champagne. Though the only flavour that is declared is celery seed, Bittermens always got a sense that there was a bit of ginger and apple in there somewhere.

Wrapping all of this history together, Bittermens decided to take all of these ideas and run with them. They took an idea of a brine, a shrub and a classic soda and decided to dedicate it to Orchard Street, home of the Lower East Side Tenement Museum. Funny that something that they made to honour the Eastern European immigrant experience works so well with Scandinavian Aquavit!

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