This will be the smallest bottle on your bar and the one you pour the fewest drops from, but you can't make half the world's cocktails without it.

Bitters is a mixer with a varied history. Bars used to produce their own brands, but now the market is cornered by Angostura's aromatic bitters, still made in Trinidad from a recipe dating back to 1824.

Also available are Peychaud's (essential to a Sazerac) from New Orleans, and orange bitters, made from the peel of Seville oranges and hard as hell to find.

True to their name, bitters are bitter. They're so concentrated that a dash or two is all you need to offset the sweetness of any cocktail. According to the label on an Angostura bottle, "it's what you put in to make the flavor come out."

Aromatic bitters are also billed as an appetite stimulant and digestif, and - like many bottles behind the bar - were originally concocted as medicinal.

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