About Us
Sam Unger and her father Philip Unger are the founders of Ms. Better’s Bitters. Sam is an artist who works with olfactory environments; her dad develops food products at a facility in Port Coquitlam, Canada.
They started playing with bitters after Philip Unger found a century-old recipe book that included a recipe for Angostura. Every time they created something new, like their Pineapple Star Anise or Lime Leaf bitters, they’d drop by Bambudda Bar (sadly, now closed) in Gastown to get bartenders such as Tarquin Melnyk to test them.
“We kept bombarding Tarquin and bringing him things,” Unger says with a laugh. “It was when we brought him the vegan foamer that he said, ‘This time, I think you’ve got something.’ ”
“All the other products are amazing, but this gave us a foot in the door,” says Melnyk. “It stands alone in its category.” The foamer is now being used in bars from San Francisco to London, Italy and Hong Kong.
The foamer replaces egg whites in drinks like sours, flips and fizzes. It is easy to use, food-safe and eco-friendly. It is also wonderfully frothy, and avoids that unpleasant eggy aroma (which is why drinks shaken with egg whites almost always have a splash of something aromatic on top).
Which brings us back to bitters.
After two and a half years of tinkering, Ms. Betters Bitters officially launched in January 2016. A year later, the Ungers have created some 80 products, of which 15 are in circulation.
So which do you actually need for your own home bar? Melnyk recommends starting with the Orange Tree, Chocolate, and Batch 42 Aromatic bitters, which all just happen to go together perfectly to create the best Old Fashioned you’ve every tried.
The Orange Tree “is like if you’re being dropped into an orange tree from a balloon,” Unger says. It starts with a floral orange blossom aroma, continues with a green leafy note, followed by a juicy burst of orange fruit and, finally, the woodsy bitterness of bark.
The Chocolate has a healthy shot of chili in it, adding bite to brandy or bourbon drinks, while Unger describes the cinnamon aromatic bitters, which are made with 48 different botanicals, as “Angostura on steroids.”
There are plenty of other choices, though, from the cooling Cypress Bowl to the spicy Black Pepper Cardamom to the juicy and refreshing Green Strawberry Mah-Kwan that, to Unger, tastes of nostalgia.
But whatever bitters you choose, it will surely make your cocktail experience a sweeter one.