Hella Bitter is a small-batch cocktail bitters company founded in Williamsburg, Brooklyn and with its heart in the Bay Area. What began in the early 2000s as a hobby turned serious in 2011, when we did a Kickstarter to raise money to make 50 bottles of citrus bitters. We must have struck a nerve because we raised more than twice what we had set out to, and with that inspiration, Hella Bitter went from being a weekend project, to being a serious pursuit of the delicious.

At launch we have two flavors on offer: Citrus and Aromatic.

Citrus is the bitters that started it all, and we have refined a recipe that consistently outshines other orange bitters on the market. It is slightly more concentrated, and more noticeably citrusy than other bitters in its class. This is because our small-batch approach enables us to carefully regulate the different flavors and prevent any one from overpowering the others.

Perhaps the rockstar of the bunch, our Aromatic is a compelling alternative to the standard angostura-based aromatic bitters on the market. We use more intriguing ingredients and stronger flavors to make a bitters that can stand up to the biggest bourbon whiskeys, but is still delicate enough to give subtle support to a gin cocktail. It gets its color from the beet juice that we use to help sweeten it.

We want to change the way people think about their beverages. We want people to use our product to make their drinks a little bit bitter. Whether that’s a classic cocktail or a bitters and soda, we think Hella Bitter has the potential to bring much more awareness to the world of bitters, and to help sophisticate the American palette. We’re starting small, and we’re dreaming big.

Hella Bitter is Benjamin Ahr Harrison, Tobin Ludwig, Eduardo Simeon and Jomaree Pinkard.

To make order inquiries, DM us at twitter.com/hellabitter