Fee Brothers Orange Bitters, sold as West Indian Orange Bitters, are the flavor the Fee family of Rochester, New York is best known for, and Difford’s Guide notes they have for decades been one of the most used orange bitters in the world’s bars. The Fees started with an 1840s butcher shop and a wine and liquor store opened in 1864 (1863 on the label, because a grandfather liked the rhyme), survived Prohibition making cordial syrups and altar wine, and turned fully to cocktail mixers in the 1950s; Joe and Ellen Fee, the fourth generation, run it today. The formula is glycerin-based, built on oil of bitter orange, gentian and other natural flavors, and bottled at about 9% ABV. Difford’s describes it as pale golden and cloudy, with pungent ripe orange zest and a hint of orange flower water on the nose, a slightly sweet palate balanced by gentian bitterness and orange oil, and a long, zesty bitter-orange finish. It is the classic dash in a dry gin Martini and works just as well in an Old Fashioned, a Manhattan, a Negroni or a Margarita. Sold in the 5 oz dasher-top bottle.
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