Angostura

Angostura is a popular Venezuelan alcoholic drink, a concentrated bitter. The drink includes extracts of orange peel, gentian roots, ginger and pharmacy dill, bark of cinchona and galipea officinalis (also known as the Angostura tree), nutmeg, cloves, cardamom, galangal, cinnamon, nutmeg flowers and sandalwood. The exact method of preparing angostura is kept secret.

The recipe was developed as a tonic by Johann Gottlieb Benjamin Siegert, a surgeon in Simon Bolivar's army in Venezuela. Siegert began selling the drink in 1824 and established a distillery for this purpose in 1830. The enterprise was located in the city of Angostura, now Ciudad Bolivar, and used local ingredients, possibly thanks to the botanical knowledge of local Indians. The production was sold abroad in 1853 and in 1875 the factory was moved to Port of Spain, Trinidad, where it remained. Angostura won a medal at the Weltausstellung 1873 Wien. The medal is still depicted on the oversize label along with the reverse, which shows the profile of Franz Joseph I, the Emperor of Austria.

Originally, Angostura was used as a remedy for hiccups, upset stomach, seasickness. But now, it is an integral part of many famous drinks, including the official cocktails of the International Bartenders Association (IBA).