Orange Bitters

Note Profile

Botanical

About

A high-proof tincture of dried orange peel, gentian root and baking spice, sold to season cocktails by the dash. As a note it stands for the smell of the bottle, not the fruit. Sharp peel zest sits on a dry bittering root, with cinnamon and clove warmth behind it.

Scent Profile

citrus leads and all three sources put it first. DrinkLab is explicit: 'the primary flavor in orange bitters is the fresh, zesty taste of orange peel'. Portland Syrups opens with 'bright orange peel, bittersweet bitter orange'. It is peel, not juice, so the citrus is dry and rindy rather than sweet. warm_spice is next, on DrinkLab naming 'cinnamon, cloves, and cardamom, adding warmth and complexity'. aromatic_herbal carries the gentian. Portland Syrups calls it 'soft gentian bitterness, herbal complexity', and All The Bitter confirms gentian is in almost every cocktail bitters. No facet in this vocabulary covers bitter root directly, so the gentian is split between aromatic_herbal and a smaller earthy, and that mapping is a judgement rather than a claim any source makes. boozy is the carrier: the product is 40 percent alcohol or more and the spirit is smelled before anything else in the glass. sour for the tang DrinkLab names, green and dry_woody for peel pith and root, fruity for what little fruit survives the drying.

ScentWheel

Breadthbroad

EnvelopeTop · ~2h lasting

Family Fresh & Citrus, Spicy, Green & Aromatic

Read off the wheel, not a label applied to the note.

Origin

Prepared. Dried peel of bitter or sweet orange is macerated in high-proof alcohol with gentian root, and most recipes add cinnamon, clove and cardamom. Fee Brothers, Regans' and Angostura each sell an orange version. Every source found for this note is a drinks-trade page. No perfumery supplier publishes an olfactive sheet for it.

Usage in Perfumery

Rare as a named note. Measured 2026-08-30: 0 Fragrantica placements, 2 Parfumo placements across 2 brands. It is used where a plain citrus would read too sweet, in boozy and cocktail-themed openings.