Bitters Angostura Aromatic Bitters - 10cl

ORIGINAL MOJITO

3 Dashes angostura bitters
2 Shots white rum
1 Shot lime juice or fresh limes
Top up soda
1 Teaspoon sugar syrup

Method: Muddle the mint leaves in a glass with the sugar & lime juice to extract the mint oils. Fill the Tumbler glass with crushed ice and add the rum and Angostura, then top up with soda water and stir. Garnish: Mint sprig Liquid volume

AMA LIBRA

30ml (1 oz) Dark Rum
15ml (1/2 oz) Amaretto
1 dash Angostura® aromatic bitters
Top with Coca-Cola

Method: Simply mix the ingredients together
Glass: Highball

In 1820, the German doctor Johann G. B. Siegert served in the military service of the famous liberation fighter Simón Bolívar in South America. In Angostura, today Ciudad Bolívar, Siegert developed the medicinal tonic “Amargo Aromatico“ (spanish for aromatic bitters) in 1824. In the time since then, these bitters have enjoyed ever increasing popularity by, for example, the sailors who reached Angostura by the Orinoco River. Through this trade route, these bitters also enjoyed wider regional distribution. In 1850, the doctor began catering his sales and marketing more toward Europe, where these bitters had in the meantime become known. Johann engaged his son Carlos in the business during his lifetime, and after the death of Johann in 1870 Carlos' brothers Alfredo and Luis joined the business. In 1875, the brothers moved the business to Trinidad near the Venezuelan coast, where the house bitters are produced until today. Only in 1992 did the company adop the current name: Angostura Limited.

In general, it is important to make the distinction between Aromatic Bitters, which mix different aromas to create a completely new unity, and bitters in which a specific aroma clearly dominates. In this last category, Orange Bitters are of greatest importance as cocktail bitters. It is possibly this interest in orange bitters, and also the good conditions to grow oranges in Trinidad, which motivated the House Angostura to finally offer their own orange bitters publicly in 2008. These bitters were also misunderstood with their disproportionately large label, for which Angostura is famous, since they were confused with the other Angostura bitters. Supposedly, the labeling was entered into a competition, in which it didn't win – still, the jury recommended that the design of the label should be kept intact.

Produced for almost two hundred years, the recipe for Angostura aromatic bitters has been kept a strict and elaborately protected secret even until today. Supposedly, only five people know the recipe; and who have also decided to never congregate all together in one place for reasons of safety. Even the employees of the manufacturer in Trinidad only know the details of their own, strictly restricted, portion of the distillation process. To avoid industrial spying, the company even has made arrangements with customs officials, so that they don't open packets containing imported ingredients. In this context, we also don't know much about the contents of these bitters: gentian, sugar and caramel as well, and otherwise some form of citrus fruit. The bark of the Angostura tree, responsible for the bitter quality of certain other bitters, is not found in Angostura's aromatic bitters. The name of the tonic refers to the history of Angostura Limited. Also of note is that Angostura's products are gluten-free, kosher, and vegan. Its alcohol content is 44.7% ABV.

The history of aromatic bitters produced by Angostura has a lot to do with the history of the Angostura Limited company, since the company brought aromatic bitters to prominence. Until 2008, when the company introduced Angostura Orange Bitters on the market, the aromatic bitters were the only bitters produced by the house.

Since their development in 1824 by Johann G. B. Siegert, Angostura aromatic bitters have been used not only for medicine, but also mainly as a spicy mixer ingredient, especially for cocktails. Since the second half of the 19th century this market has been growing rapidly, although the Prohibition in the USA from 1919 to 1933 hindered this development significantly (see The History of Bitters). Angostura not only survived this crisis but managed to profit from it as well. This happened actually simply because they were able to survive during Prohibition, and because their only competitors to also survive were Peychaud’s and certain other Orange Bitters producers. That's how Angostura aromatic bitters have undisputedly become the most famous and best-selling of all bitters, during today's boom of interest in bitters as well as in the past during Prohibition.

Food and cocktails