Angostura
The bottle with the oversized label found behind every bar. Everything about what Angostura exactly is, how many drops you need, which cocktails it belongs in and which glass goes with it.
A medicine that became a bar classic
Angostura was created in 1824 by Johann Gottlieb Benjamin Siegert, a German army doctor in the Venezuelan port town of Angostura, now Ciudad Bolívar. He was looking for a remedy for stomach complaints among Simón Bolívar's troops and made a tincture of gentian root, spices and herbs. The drink became more popular as a flavoring than as a medicine; in 1875, production moved to Trinidad, where it is still made today.
Despite the name, it contains no angostura bark. The recipe is still secret and is said to be known by only a handful of people. The oversized label, which sticks out over the neck, came about by accident and was never changed. At 44.7% alcohol, Angostura is strong, but you use it by the drop: a few dashes per cocktail.
In brief
What types of Angostura are there?
Angostura Aromatic Bitters
The original with the oversized label. Bitter and spicy with cinnamon, clove and gentian; a few dashes are enough.
Angostura Cocoa Bitter
Made with cacao nibs and exotic spices. Dark, chocolatey and surprisingly good in an Espresso Martini.
Angostura Gran Añejo 7
Angostura also makes rum. This blend aged for at least seven years in American oak: chocolate, tiramisu and burnt sugar.
Start with the Aromatic Bitters: one bottle will last for years.
Bitter, spicy and much stronger than you think
Cinnamon & clove
Warm baking spices, cinnamon, clove and a dry spiciness. You can already smell it with one dash over a glass.
Bitter and concentrated
Neat, it is sharp and intensely bitter from the gentian root. It is therefore not intended to be drunk neat.
Depth and balance
A few dashes make a sweet cocktail more complex and rounded. Angostura connects the flavors instead of covering them with its own flavor.
Flavor profile of Angostura Aromatic Bitters neat. In a cocktail, you taste it as spice and depth, not bitterness.
Three ways to use Angostura
You don't drink Angostura neat: you measure it in dashes of about 1 ml. Two to four dashes per cocktail is standard.
In an Old Fashioned
Two dashes of Angostura on a sugar cube or 10 ml simple syrup, 60 ml bourbon or rye, and a large ice cube in a tumbler. Stir until cold and twist a piece of orange peel over the glass.
Go to the recipe →As a foam layer on a sour
Make a Pisco Sour or Whiskey Sour with egg white and add three dashes of Angostura to the foam. Draw a pattern in it with a cocktail pick; it smells amazing too.
Pisco Sour recipe →In soda or sparkling drinks
Four dashes in a glass of soda or tonic with ice and lemon make an 'Angostura Lemonade': nearly alcohol-free, bittersweet and refreshing. Also delicious in a Moscow Mule.
Moscow Mule recipe →The best cocktails with Angostura
Old Fashioned
Whiskey, sugar, ice and two dashes of Angostura. Without the bitters, it's just sweet whiskey.
Manhattan
Rye whiskey, sweet vermouth and Angostura. The bitters make all the difference in this sweet cocktail.
Pisco Sour
Pisco, lime, sugar and egg white, with three drops of Angostura on the foam.
Champagne Cocktail
A sugar cube with Angostura, topped up with champagne. The simplest cocktail there is.The right glass for cocktails with Angostura
A heavy tumbler for the Old Fashioned, a coupe for the Manhattan and Pisco Sour, and a mixing glass for stirring. These are the glasses we recommend ourselves.
Everything you still wanted to know about Angostura
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