Lately I’ve been drinking a lot of carbonated water at work and at home.  My favorite way to drink it is with quite a few dashes of bitters.  While I like the flavor of aromatic bitters (and I’ve been using a previous batch frequently), I prefer fruit bitters.  Having barreled through a couple bottles of Fee Brothers bitters I decided to try making my own orange bitters.  Here is the recipe from my first batch.
Reese's Orange Bitters (Batch 1)
Peel of 2 Oranges (including pith) sliced thin Zest of 2 Oranges 3 Cinnamon Sticks Broken into Pieces 15-20 Cloves 2-3 Cups Vodka
1) Combine the above  in a jar and let it steep for a week 2) Strain through a metal sieve 3) Re-strain through a clean paper towel to get the fine particulate out
Okay, so that was batch 1 which netted about 20 oz of really tasty orange bitters.  They were lightly sweet, with a really fresh orange flavor.  The spices were there but not overpowering.  They lasted all of about 2 months.  Sooo…wanting a little more output and some additional flavors, I moved on to batch 2.
Reese's Orange Bitters (Batch 2)
Peel of 3 Oranges (including pith) sliced thin Zest of 1 Orange 8Â Cinnamon Sticks Broken into Pieces 15-20 Cloves 15-20 Allspice Berries 2 Cups Vodka 2 Cups Water
1) Combine the above  in a jar and let it steep for a week 2) Strain through a metal sieve 3) Re-strain through a clean paper towel to get the fine particulate out
This batch netted about 3.5 cups (30 oz) but the flavor isn’t as robust. Â The orange flavor is more subtle (and the color is notably lighter). Â The bitter notes are a bit more pronounced, likely from the extra pith. Â Finally the spice qualities are about the same. Â Going to be good for water flavoring, but not as powerful as I was hoping.
So, for batch 3, I’ll definitely be going back to something closer to batch 1. Â I think the extra zest (versus whole peel) gives more orange punch and the lower quantity of liquid made the end product more concentrated. Â Go figure, right? Â Though, I’m liking the additional spices. Â Likely my next batch will retain the allspice and possibly add ginger or cardamom to the mix.