bitter bird

2 oz Rittenhouse Rye
1/2 oz Cynar
1/2 oz Pierre Ferrand Dry Curaçao
1/8 oz Demerara Syrup
1 dash Saline (3 drop 20%)

Stir with ice, strain into a double old fashioned glass, and garnish with orange oil from a twist. Two Saturdays ago, I turned to online recipe flashcards for Eastern Standard in Boston, and I selected the Bitter Bird from the Spring 2026 menu. The restaurant's menu from March has it in the "Old Fashioned: Everything New is Old Again" section, and their Instagram reel has bartender Julian Bernal describing it as his creation from 2013 before he was working at there and how his drink lands somewhere between a Manhattan and an Old Fashioned. Overall, the combination comes across like the Papa Was a Rodeo with rye and no bitters or the Water Line without aquavit. Once built, the Bitter Bird flew to the nose with orange, rye, and herbal aromas. Next, caramel with hints of orange on the sip swooped before alighting on rye and herbal-orange flavors on the swallow.