The iconic bitters bottle with the oversized label is so inextricably linked to the cocktail cabinet, that it’s often a surprise to learn that ANGOSTURA® aromatic bitters was originally developed as a medicine.
The legendary brand is celebrating its double centenary in 2024, 200 years of the same secret recipe bringing palate-pleasing joy…. and healing.
Its inventor, Dr Johann Seigert, surgeon general in Simon Bolivar’s revolutionary army, first created the bitters in the town of Angostura, Venezuela as a medicinal tincture to cure his soldiers’ ills, in particular digestive upsets.
- In the 1870s, Dr Siegert’s three sons moved to Trinidad, where ANGOSTURA® has been made ever since to the exact recipe as in 1824. By then the bitters were an essential ingredient in all sorts of cocktail recipes and the cocktail application had taken over from the medicinal (although its history as a health tonic certainly came in handy during the 1920’s prohibition years in the United States, when ANGOSTURA® aromatic bitters was the one bottle legally permitted on the shelves… for medicinal purposes of course).
The cocktail zeitgeist
ANGOSTURA® has been part of the cocktail zeitgeist throughout the last two centuries with a story in every dash: from the reinvention of the Old Fashioned in the 1880s, to the first ever recorded cocktail party in 1917 held by Mrs Julius Walsh of St Louis, Missouri, when she invited 50 friends to her mansion for an hour of drinking Martinis and Manhattans, a new style of partying soon adopted by the bright young things of the roaring ‘20s.
While the original ANGOSTURA® aromatic bitters recipe hasn’t changed an iota, The House of Angostura® added a range of rums to their portfolio in the 1950s, and then the 21st century saw the birth of two new bitters: ANGOSTURA® orange and ANGOSTURA® cocoa bitters. Very much in tune with the spirit of the new millennium, the cocoa bitters were created with the sustainably-minded mission of supporting Trinidad and Tobago’s cocoa industry: giving small-scale farmers a guaranteed local market to sell their distinctive indigenous Trinitario cocoa beans, and encouraging them to use sustainable practices for this unique crop.
A sustainable future
At one of the first of many events celebrating the 200th anniversary this year, ANGOSTURA® unveiled a host of sustainability measures to take them treading lightly into the next 200 years. Their rum bottles have been re-designed to use 30% less glass, making them lighter, and reducing the carbon footprint of transport. Label material is sourced from sustainably managed forests, and bottle closures are 100% recyclable. Their waste-water treatment plant has been re-modelled to protect the eco-system, and next on the list is a project to use bio-gas for electricity.
Many of these measures are part of the application process for a new royal warrant from King Charles III, (a new warrant has to be applied for with each successive ruler). This continues a tradition started back in 1873 when ANGOSTURA® aromatic bitters won a silver medal at the Vienna Exposition, and The House of Angostura® gained warrants to be exclusive purveyors of bitters to the royal houses of Prussia, Spain and England.
200 year celebrations
In celebration of the anniversary ANGOSTURA® has released a limited edition bottle of ANGOSTURA® bitters with an elegant (still-oversized) black label with gold writing. So how else are they celebrating? House of Angostura® Chief Executive Officer, Laurent Schun comments: “For any company to reach 200 years is an incredible achievement. We’re very proud and really excited going into our bicentennial year.
We have so many plans that we’re about to implement, including some exciting new products. 2024 is going to be 366 days of celebrating. As for the next 200 years, the future looks bright for Angostura”.
Trinidad and Tobago is known for throwing a good party, as their legendary carnivals attest. Look out for anniversary parties around the world, the new product releases and the commemorative limited editions… it’s not every year a company joins the rarefied and elite ranks of the 200 club, so you can be sure that ANGOSTURA® will be celebrating in style.
For more information on the Angostura range and delicious food and cocktail recipes please visit www.angosturabitters.com.
- Follow Angostura South Africa on Facebook /Angostura South Africa and Instagram @AngosturaZA for fun facts, recipes and brand updates.
