Bittered Sling
Bittered Sling Bitters celebrates the unique life and business partnership of celebrated chef Jonathan Chovancek and award-winning mixologist/sommelier Lauren Mote, who together have contributed more than 30 years of professional experience, knowledge and innovation to the Canadian food and beverage industry.
In 2012, Mote and Chovancek launched Bittered Sling — a retail line of high-quality, small-batch bitters using homegrown and artisanal products that provides palate, plate and potion with a subtle-yet-exciting fusion of flavours — and quickly built a reputation both in Vancouver and across the globe.
Originally marketed as a medicinal tonic, bitters are a concentration of select natural herbs, fruits and spices now used primarily as a flavouring agent for cocktail and culinary creations ranging from savoury to sweet. A common and indispensable tool of any bartender, bitters have increased in popularity thanks to the recent renaissance of classic cocktails.
The name Bittered Sling derives from the May 13, 1806 edition of The Balance, and Columbian Repository (Hudson, NY) that defines a cocktail as“A stimulating liquor composed of spirits of any kind, sugar, water and bitters. It is vulgarly called a bittered sling and is supposed to be an excellent electioneering potion inasmuch as it renders the heart stout and bold, at the same time that it fuddles the head.” By the dash or the drop, each creation offers an intricate range of complex flavours that perfectly accentuates food, spirits and even sparkling water.
Since its inception, Bittered Sling has garnered local and international acclaim with aromatic labels such as Cascade Celery, Malagasy Chocolate and Kensington Dry Bitters — all of which were bestowed with gold medals at the Beverage Testing Institute’s 2014 International Review of Spirits. In 2013, the company was singled out as Producer/Supplier of the Year at the 24th annual Vancouver Magazine Restaurant Awards. Since 2011, both Chovancek and Mote have also both been event partners and keynote speakers with Tales of the Cocktail, the world’s premier cocktail festival, in New Orleans, Vancouver and Argentina.
Jonathan is the Operations Manager for Bittered Sling, while Lauren is the Diageo Reserve & World Class Global Cocktailian. Bittered Sling is available in Canada, USA, UK, Cayman, Australia and New Zealand.
Bittered Sling strongly believes in setting a new standard in customer service, and remains committed to providing quality, respect and integrity in each ingredient it sources, and every product it creates.