Bitters Lab 2024: Utah’s First Premium Cocktail Bitters Company

Andrea, the founder of Bitters Lab, began her journey in 2008 as a cake designer dissatisfied with the artificial flavorings available. This dissatisfaction, coupled with her newfound passion for whiskey and handcrafted cocktails, led her to experiment with making her own bitters using real, quality ingredients. After years of perfecting her recipes in her basement-turned-"bitters lab," Andrea launched Bittersweet in 2014, offering organic infused sugars, house-made bitters, and unique desserts at local farmers markets. The overwhelming response to her bitters prompted her to rebrand as Bitters Lab in January 2015, becoming Utah's first premium cocktail bitters company. Since then, Andrea has remained dedicated to supporting the local community by donating 5% of profits to local organizations and partnering with local businesses, farmers, and nonprofits. DeliveryRank has the pleasure of chatting with Andrea.

What inspired your transition from cake designing to crafting artisanal bitters and how did your journey lead to the creation of Bitters Lab?

I had burnt out on cake designing and the wedding industry specifically, but was looking for another way to express my creativity and be able to work for myself. Since I regularly used bitters in my baked goods, it was an easy transition to starting a dessert stand at my local farmers market, using the bitters. We made bruleed fruit with bitters-infused sugars. This was sort of my way of testing the idea of bitters with the Utah crowd (at the time a state that was not exactly known for having much of an alcohol industry), and since folks here love dessert, it made a lot of sense to me. 

Over that first season, the community was really responsive and excited about what we were doing - and to my surprise, were very excited about the bitters part too. So at the end of the season I decided to jump right in and launched Utah’s first bitters company, that was in 2015 - we’re almost 10 year old - I can’t believe it!

Could you share the significance behind the unique flavors you've developed, such as Charred Cedar & Currant or Habanero Lime?

Absolutely! I knew from the get-go that I wanted to create flavors that did not exist in the market already. The last thing I wanted to do was get washed out in a sea of orange, lavender & chocolate bitters (in 2015, there were plenty of companies around the country making really delicious bitters like that). I really wanted to set us apart, so we’d be more intriguing to customers - the fact that we were from Utah & female-owned It was kind of a given that we probably wouldn’t be taken seriously. I also didn’t want to hide these facts - we are incredibly proud to be from Utah and Female-owned - so creating these unique combo flavors made so much sense to me, plus it was (and still is) really fun! 

Your commitment to sustainability and community support is evident. How do these values translate into the sourcing and creation of your bitters?

We definitely take this seriously - as much and often as we can we’ll support a local farmer, orchard or maker. We’ve partnered with many locals and also quite a few nonprofits to support this goal. It’s also why we have seasonal flavors - once we’re unable to obtain a certain ingredient, like Rhubarb for example, we stop making that flavor and when it’s sold out it really is gone… until we bring it back the next season when we’re able to get local Rhubarb. 

I did extensive research before we even opened to find out where I could purchase things like Gentian root, and other ingredients that don’t grow locally, and we’ve always shopped with these same small businesses who have our same values for these ingredients.

Upcycling and recycling are crucial aspects of your sustainability efforts. What creative ways do you recommend for customers to repurpose your bitters bottles?

I repurpose bitters bottles for homemade syrups, or salad dressings and often use them to hold small flowers that I’ll put in my bathroom.

Supporting local communities is a cornerstone of your philosophy. How do you balance sourcing ingredients locally while maintaining the unique flavor profiles of your bitters?

This goes back to all that research we did in the beginning; we purchase from certain non-local businesses and certain local businesses. Another reason why we give each bottle a batch number is because of this sourcing we do. The ingredients are not exactly the same every year - like fresh locally grown fruit for example based on weather, etc - so although every batch is similar (we keep the recipe exactly the same), sometimes they are a little different in how they taste. A great example of this is our Habanero Lime - sometimes the peppers are just way hotter than the previous batch, and we think that’s what makes it fun.

If you would like to find out more about Bitters Lab, please visit https://www.bitterslab.com/