How To Get Rid Of Bitter Taste In Drinks Like Cocktails?

How To Get Rid Of Bitter Taste In Drinks Like Cocktails?

When you think of your favorite cocktail, what is the first thing that comes to mind? Is it the complex yet a delicious mixture of flavors? Or maybe how refreshing that drink feels going down your throat on a hot summer day.

What most people don’t usually picture when they think about their favorite cocktail is bitterness.

Bitter drinks can be a turnoff for many people, but what makes them taste that way? And more importantly, how can you get rid of that bitter taste?

Here are some methods that people use to get rid of the bitter taste in their drinks-from adding sugar or salt to their beverage, to eating specific foods or drinking certain beverages. If all else fails, there’s always the option of fixing your drink with a cocktail mixer!

What causes a drink to taste bitter?

The primary ingredient that makes cocktails taste bitter is alcohol. This can be any type of alcohol, but the higher proof it is (meaning the less water it contains), the more bitter and harsher its taste will be.

Alcohol tastes bitter due to a few different functional groups: an aldehyde group, an ester group, and an amide group. These three groups all interact with receptors in your tastebuds; this creates what we know as bitterness.  

Alcohol can cut out some of the bad flavors in drinks, such as vinegar or sweetness from fruit juices. However, since alcohol has such a strong flavor on its own, if you use too much of it in your drink then it’ll become unpalatable.

How can you get rid of the bitter taste in your drink?

There are five main ways to try to cut the bitterness of alcohol: by adding sugar, salt, Soda, Sprite, or Ginger Ale.

Adding Sugar

Sugar is an ingredient that many people use in cocktails like Daiquiris, Margaritas, and Manhattans as a way to cut out some of the bitter taste.

The cocktail won’t be quite as strong because you’re diluting it with simple syrup (a mixture of water and dissolved sugar), but your drink will be much more enjoyable since it isn’t as harsh tasting.

Some other recipes that might benefit from a touch of sweetness include Hendrick’s and Sazeracs. You can also add sugar if you find your drink too sour; for example, in some Tom Collinses, Whiskey Sours, and whiskey-gingers.

Adding Salt

The other way that you can tone down the bitterness of your drink is by adding salt. If you adjust the amount of salt in a recipe, then if can balance out some of the harshnesses in a drink and mellow it out a little bit. Since both sugar and salt are mineral-based ingredients, they help to cut out some of the negative flavors in your cocktail while also bringing up other positive ones, too.

Cocktails such as Gimlets and many vodka-based drinks could benefit from a touch of salt because this cuts out some of their more bitter notes.

In order to avoid an overly bitter taste in your cocktails altogether, try to stay away from high-proof alcohols (like 100 proof) when making drinks. Instead, go for something with a high flavor profile (like 80 proof vodka), which will give your drink more depth without adding too much complexity of its own.

You can also use sweeter liqueurs like syrups or cordials that are lower in alcohol content to help balance out any heavy flavors in your drink.

If you’re making cocktails at home and aren’t sure if the recipe is too bitter, there is one easy way to test it: just put some on your wrist. It’s helpful to lick different parts of your body while tasting so you can get all areas on your tongue instead of just the tip.

One last thing if you find that none of these options work, then you might want to consider one final option: using a cocktail mixer as a way to balance out your drink.

Soda

A great option that serves as an alternative to all of these methods is soda water; it helps cut the bitterness and the flavor of the alcohol, but you still get some taste from it so it doesn’t feel like you’re drinking a nothing-but-carbonated mix.

Sprite

Sprite is often used as a quick fix for tonic water since many people find the flavor to be overly bitter. Just adding a little bit of lemon or lime can help balance out the flavors even more.

Ginger Ale

Another good mixer for cutting down bitterness is a ginger ale or even ginger beer. It might seem strange to use a beverage with such strong flavors on its own, but just adding a little bit into your drinks can help balance out any harshnesses from your other liqueurs or spirits.  

What are some foods or drinks that can help get rid of the bitter taste in other drinks?

Drinking lemon juice is a great way to cut out any bitterness in beverages that come from using tonic water, seltzer water, or other carbonated mixers.

Grapefruit juice can be used the same way as well, especially since it combines well with gin and vodka drinks. Just make sure not to add too much because grapefruit’s bitter taste can take over otherwise.  

In addition to these natural ingredients, there are also some other things you might consider adding. For example, a splash of bitters in your drink isn’t going to change the flavor that much by itself, but it does help pull everything together and bring out certain flavors that would be too subtle without it.

A drop of hot sauce in your drink can also help to balance out any bitter flavors. The key is finding the right hot sauce that works with your palate; if you don’t like it, then it’s not going to work in your cocktails.

Some people might take their quest for the perfect drink even further and add in an extra pinch of sugar or another sweet additive just so they don’t have to deal with anything too bitter.

After reading this article, you should have a better understanding of how to get rid of that bitter taste in your cocktails and what is causing it.

The next step might be for you to experiment with some different cocktail recipes or methods we talked about here today!

By HappyFizzyHour

Happy Fizzy Hour is a blog about cocktails, wine and other tasty drinks. It's written by Tessa Sobrino, a passionate drinker who loves exploring the world of mixology to find new cocktail recipes for you to try at home. Happy Fizzy Hour features creative recipes from bartenders in different cities around the world, as well as plenty of tips on how to make your own happy hour-appropriate concoctions at home.