Angostura

Angostura is one of the most famous spirits brands in the world — and one of the few whose history can be traced back to a single recipe. The Aromatic Bitters were developed in 1824 by the German doctor Johann Gottlieb Benjamin Siegert in the Venezuelan city of Angostura, originally as a stomach medicine for Simón Bolívar's troops. Today, it is produced in Trinidad and Tobago, still according to the secret original recipe that only five people worldwide know.

The characteristic little bottle with the oversized paper label — a mistake in a 19th-century competition that became the brand — is found in almost every serious bar in the world. The bitters themselves are a composition of over 40 herbs, roots, and spices: bitter, spicy, with notes of cinnamon, clove, and gentian. Indispensable in an Old Fashioned, a Manhattan, or as a dash in a champagne cocktail.

In addition to the bitters, Angostura produces a range of Caribbean rums — from the accessible White Oak to aged bottlings like the 1919 or the Rare Antiguan. The latter show what tropical aging means: faster extraction, more intense wood notes, a soft, round mouthfeel. Anyone who wants to get to know Caribbean rum beyond cocktail ingredients will find a good entry point here.