ANGOSTURA Reserva

ANGOSTURA Reserva. Angostura Reserva is a rum from Trinidad. It has a dry, warm vanilla taste and a distinctly smooth finish. This white rum is aged in oak casks for 3 years, then run through activated carbon to give a crystalline finish with an exquisite flavour.

Angostura bitters are a key ingredient in many cocktails. Originally used to help with upset stomachs of the soldiers in Simón Bolívar’s army, it later became popular in soda water and was usually served with gin. The mix stuck in the form of a pink gin, and is also used in many other cocktails such as long vodka, consisting of vodka, bitters, and lemonade. In the United States, it is best known for its use in whiskey cocktails: old fashioneds, made with whiskey, bitters, sugar, and water, and Manhattans, made usually with rye whiskey and red vermouth. In a pisco sour, a few drops are sprinkled on top of the foam, both for aroma and decoration. In a champagne cocktail, a few drops of bitters are added to a sugar cube.

Angostura bitters is a concentrated bitters (herbal alcoholic preparation) based on gentian, herbs, and spices, by House of Angostura in Trinidad and Tobago. It is typically used for flavouring beverages or, less often, food. The bitters were first produced in the town of Angostura (now Ciudad Bolívar, Venezuela), hence the name, but do not contain angostura bark. The bottle is recognisable by its distinctive oversized label. Angostura is Spanish for ‘narrowing’, the town of Angostura having been at the first narrowing of the Orinoco River.

Beverages named “Angostura Bitter” or “Angobitter” are also offered from other brands (e.g., Riemerschmid, Hemmeter). Unlike the House of Angostura product, they contain angostura bark, possibly to justify the use of the word “Angostura” in their names.