Bartending 101: What is Angostura bitters?

June 25, 2:35 AMBartender ExaminerKathleen Neves

Previous Next

6 comments Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the Bartender Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

Angostura bitters is a concentrated flavoring agent made from roots, berries, herbs and plants that is 80 proof (40% of the product contains alcohol.) It’s used to aid digestion, flavor food and cocktails and can even help cure a case of the hiccups. Angostura bitters are considered non-potable meaning that they aren’t meant to be consumed “neat” or “on the rocks.”

In 1824, a German physician by the name of Dr. Johann Gottlieb Benjamin Siegert developed Angostura bitters in Venezuela for use as a remedy for stomachaches and ailments. Angostura bitters was named after the town of Angostura in Venezuela. It contains no angostura bark, which is a medicinal bark, which is also named after the same town.

In 1830, the product was exported to England and Trinidad. This is when the product began getting used as a flavor enhancer in a number of cocktails.

Interestingly enough, this product is actually not bitter in taste when it’s added to food and drinks. “Bitters” is just a generic category for products made from gentian, aromatic herbs and spices.

So why is the label so large? According to the Angostura bitters website, there a two different reasons on why the label is so large. The first reason is that it is a result of the Caribbean attitude. When someone ordered the wrong sized label, the mistake was noticed but nobody did anything about it because they left it up to someone to correct the mistake. Nobody ever took the initiative to correct the over sized label mistake. Instead, the company decided to stick with the over sized label and has since become the product’s trademark.

Another reason for the over sized label? Originally there were two people put in charge of the packaging: one man to buy a bottle and another man to buy a label. Both men went out on their own in search of a label and a bottle. When they met back at the office, they realized that the label was much larger than the bottle. There wasn’t any time left to correct the mistake so they just decided to make it work.

Some popular drinks that call for Angostura bitters:

Manhattan
Rob Roy
Old Fashioned
Champagne Cocktail