A lively evening of curious cocktails and convivial company, in a beautiful and historic setting on the banks of the Schuylkill River.
Choose your favorite cocktail featuring Bartram Bitters - a recipe recreated for you by Philadelphia Distilling and Fair Food. Using local and organic ingredients, it adheres as closely as possible to the traditions the Bartram family would have used in the 1830's. Take home a bottle of Bartram Bitters to try!
Mixologists from local restaurants will craft custom and artful concoctions for you to sample and vote upon. Winner gets bragging rights!
Creative concoctions will be made for you by:
Christopher Walls of Dettera Restaurant & Wine Bar
Theo Webb of FISH Restaurant
Phoebe Esmon
Tasteful treats generously provided by Ashley Power of Power Catering Events with support from Jen and Mitch Prensky of Supper.
Background:
How does John Bartram, America’s first botanist, inspire a new interpretation of a traditional cocktail mixer? While organizing books in the Bartram’s Garden archives, curator Joel Fry found a folded piece of paper tucked into an 1846 copy of A.B. Stong’s The American Flora. The handwritten paper, “Receipt For Making Bartram’s Homestead Bitters” included a formula. It is not signed or dated, but probably dates back to the mid‐19th century and is written inthe hand of John William Bartram (1813‐1866), a greatgrandson of John Bartram, the Botanist.
Because of the Bartram’s long‐standing association with medicine and commercial plant ventures, as well as the popularity of bitters in America during the mid‐19th century,there is a strong possibility that this recipe was used for commercial production.
The “Receipt”
The recipe calls for mixing several astringent plant extracts – gentian root, prickly ash bark, cherry bark, and calamus root – with aromatic and flavorings in an alcohol‐water base. The aromatics and flavorings combine European medicinal plants – orange peel, caraway, and bitter almond ‐ and native North American species – sassafras and wintergreen. The base was diluted, sweetened with sugar, and colored. The final products would have been a potent 37.5% alcohol or 75 proof.
