Angostura Bitters Shortage Shakes Up Cocktail World

by Jennifer Lawinski, Posted Nov 6th 2009 @ 4:45PM

Photo: Annie Mole, Flickr.

The world's bartenders and classic cocktail devotees are swallowing some bitter news.

The global supply of angostura bitters, a unique-tasting herbal additive to cocktails like the Manhattan and the Old Fashioned, is drying up after its manufacturer's financial woes caused a production shutdown at the sole plant that makes it in Trinidad and Tobago, the Guardian reports.

Patrick Sepe, chief executive of the US distributor, Angostura USA, told the Guardian that production halted in June and is just now getting back on track. "There has been a shortage," Sepe told the newspaper. "You can't just turn on and off supply of bitters. It's not like producing bottled water; it's a very delicate, intricate process."

Mixologist Scott Beattie, author of the cocktail how-to "Artisanal Cocktails," told Slashfood that for most bars, the angostura variety, invented in 1924, is the only type of bitters stocked and that a shortage will have an impact on cocktail drinkers everywhere.

"It has a very distinct flavor that you can't replicate with another product," Beattie said. "For your average bar, that's a staple product."

Angostura bitters are a top-secret combination of herbs, barks, roots, spices and rum, made by Trinidad's House of Angostura.

Beattie believes bartenders and mixologists, whom he calls a "pretty adaptable bunch," will be able to figure out a way around the bitters dificiency, although it will be hard to replicate angostura's "cardamom edge."

"There's been a big trend lately of people making their own bitters," Beattie told Slashfood. He said he foresees people adapting and using some of the product that they've been experimenting with for the past few years in place of angostura bitters, if it comes to that.

But Mark Ludmon, editor of Bar magazine told the Guardian many bars are, well, bitter.

"Any bar that's trying to do cocktails seriously will feel it's wrong not to use the right bitters," he said.

German doctor Johann Siegert invented angostura bitters to ease stomach ailments in soldiers in 1824, naming it for a town in Venezuela.

Have you faced the bitter truth of the shortage, or have you found a suitable substitution? Vote and let us know in the comments below.

If the Angostura bitters supply runs out, what will you use?
Fee Bros.	234 (29.7%)
I'll make my own.	90 (11.4%)
I don't use bitters.	270 (34.3%)
Reagan's	49 (6.2%)
Bitter Truth	58 (7.4%)
Other (share below)	86 (10.9%)

Tags: agostura bitters, AgosturaBitters, cocktails, drinks

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Reader comments (Page 1 of 1)

11-07-2009 @9:51AM Huwbert said... Peychauds will make do for the meantime although it does tend to make everything taste a little like liquorice!
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11-07-2009 @11:31AM cathy said... Well at least 1 bottle typically lasts a long long time. Maybe that's why it's not flying off the shelves. http://newsy1.wordpress.com
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11-07-2009 @4:49PM Bruce Dearborn Walker said... My liquor purveyor says they are unable to get the 4 oz bottles at all, but received a shipment of the 12 oz bottles. I bought one yesterday, and may go in now to buy a couple more. Hopefully that will last until the shortage is over.
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1-15-2010 @8:14PM maria said... please tell me where you got the 12 oz bottle! the northeast is dry and we're desperate...

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1-22-2010 @10:36PM David Widmer said... I'd sure like to know where to get either the 4 or the 12 oz sizes as I'm down to what's in the neck of my last bottle. HELP! Can't make a decent Manhattan without this wonderfu stuff. Please let me know.

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11-09-2009 @7:16AM TOM said... PAULA NOWHERE IN THIS ARTICLE ARE THEY ADDRESSING ANYTHING TO DO WHITH LARDASSES
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11-14-2009 @1:43PM chris said... Fee Bros. bitters is terrible. It is NOT bitters but some perfumery crap. Better to go 'sans bitters'.
I stocked up on the 12oz bottles, so hopefully I'll weather the short-term shortage.
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11-16-2009 @7:18PM heidi goman said... I LOVE Fee Bros. Bitters! They continue to be my favorite choice. Seems like they have a huge following and have grown in popularity over the course of the past couple years. They have definitely made an impact on me.
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11-17-2009 @7:19AM MT said... I used Fee Bros. bitters at my last party and my guests loved it! Fee Bros. bitters have a very smooth taste.
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11-17-2009 @11:39AM Lucy said... Fee Bros. Bitters are excellent! High quality, smooth taste. Fee's also makes lots of other delicious flavored bitters. I wouldn't use any other brand.
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11-20-2009 @8:49AM Marie said... Chris, on what do you base your comment? Different people enjoy different tastes, as reflected in the survey results. Your comments seem to show a real anger at the Fee brand. What's up with that?
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11-25-2009 @12:27AM Freddy Diaz said... I make my own bitters at times. I also happen to like "Bitter Truth" they make a kick ass celery bitters that I like to add in cocktails. Along with Pechauds for Sazaracs, Reagans No. 6 for old fashions, and of coarse your Angostura for Manhattans and so on.

I think you should use all different types of bitters depending on the cocktail.
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