Bitter Truth Jerry Thomas Own Decanter (200 ml)

Jerry Thomas's 1862 Bar-Tenders Guide listed a proprietary decanter bitters that largely vanished from bars after Prohibition. The Bitter Truth, founded in Munich in 2006 by bartenders Stephan Berg and Alexander Hauck, reverse-engineered that formula specifically to restore the missing aromatic backbone of pre-Prohibition cocktails — a deliberate act of historical reconstruction rather than commercial flavour chasing.

Produced in Bavaria, the liquid is built on a brandy base macerated with a multi-botanical blend that foregrounds gentian root, aromatic bark, and dried citrus peel. The Bitter Truth's production philosophy rejects artificial colouring and flavouring entirely, relying on cold maceration and natural botanical extraction to achieve depth. The result sits in the aromatic bitters category — denser and more spirit-forward than Angostura, closer in profile to the 19th-century originals it references.

What separates this expression from the brand's standard Aromatic Bitters is the Decanter format and formula, designed to be used both as a dasher in cocktails and as a short digestif pour — a dual-use positioning almost no modern bitters producer attempts. The 200 ml size mirrors the original bar-counter decanter presentation.