Bitter-sweet result

Of all the ingredients on a cocktail-mixer's shelf, bitters are perhaps the least known and appreciated. Often highly alcoholic and — on their own, at least — completely unpalatable, they are added in dashes and drizzles to put a characteristic edge on a cocktail's flavour. They come in small bottles with crowded, mysterious labels, last for ages and have the longest, most closely guarded histories of any alcoholic drinks, with ancient recipes and complex techniques for infusing herbal flavours into alcohol.

owns several brands of bitters, but like most large spirit-makers, it would rather eschew complex and archaic processes for predictable and automated ones. But it can only do this if the flavour of its products remains consistent. When it decided to transfer production from a blending plant in Dalby, Denmark, to an extended modern facility in Aalborg, it had to rethink how it made bitters.

The processes involved in making bitters include: extraction, distillation, cooling and filtration, along with the logistics and utilities functions of truck loading and unloading, tank-farm management and steam generation. At Dalby, these had been performed using 'islands' of automation, controlled by a few PLCs and a SCADA system, with extensive use of manual processes.