The Bitter End
Over at The Pour this week, New York Times chief wine critic Eric Asimov enjoys a heavy meal and follows it with an Old World flourish: a drink of bitter digestif. Asimov’s choice is Underberg, the venerable German bitter sold in paper-wrapped, single-portion bottles, widely acclaimed to be the most fitting cap to a meal, especially one that’s particularly heavy or rich.
Bitters aren’t particularly big in America—and here we’re talking potable bitters, as opposed to aromatic bitters such as Angostura which are used in drops and dashes—with a few notable exceptions. Campari has a firm grip on the bitters market here, but that mainly crops up as an aperitif as opposed to a stomach-settling finish to a meal; and another once-esteemed German herbal liqueur, Jägermeister , has seen its image sullied as its profits have soared, thanks to its widespread embrace by the spring break, drop-a-Jäger-in-your-Red-Bull crowd.
