Our friends over at the Liquor Snob website have recently been lamenting the shortage of Angostura bitters, the popular brand of herbally-infused flavor supplement, which so many of us favor in our drinks. Below, we’ve quoted the words as they exit the horse’s mouth:

We know there are all kinds of bitters out there to use in our cocktails, but we have to say we’re sort of used to using Angostura. For those who don’t pay attention, Angostura is the bitters you commonly get at your local bar in your cocktails…pretty much all of them. We’ve complained about this before, but we can’t seem to buy them anywhere.

Why the shortage? The official sources we can track down say the plant has closed down temporarily, but we heard a rumor that the employees are on strike. Bitter bitters workers? Say it ain’t so, and just bring us back our Angostura before we have to fly to Trinidad to get ‘em…though that doesn’t sound so bad either with all the snow we’re getting in VT.

Glad to say that, in addition to back-stocking Angostura bitters in our private COS bar, we here at Culture of Spirits have enjoyed receiving samples of other bitters this year, namely those provided by the Urban Moonshine company out of Vermont. Their unique varieties of bitters (which feature a “standard” bitter, as well as maple and citrus flavors), paired with our extensive stockade of the Angostura variety have kept us from losing our proverbial minds, in spite of the “cabin fever” that has beset so many of us here in Appalachia.

However, sources in the blogsphere say that whatever factors may have prevented Angostura bitters from being made available on supermarket shelves (here in Western North Carolina we had witnessed various shortages dating back to mid-summer), they are steadily rectifying themselves, presenting stability and, hence, availability of America’s favorite apertif/digestif/bitter supplement:

Fear not, good folks — the factory was shut down temporarily last year due to their parent company’s financial troubles, but they’re back to full production as of November. If you haven’t seen new stock yet, you should soon!

Good deal, and good words. Arguably, Angostura’s flavor is preferable in any cocktails calling for traditional bitters; whatever else you may care to experiment with, make sure it lives up to the legend!

Tags: Angostura bitters, bitters, liquor