Abbott’s Aromatic Bitters

Abbott's Aromatic Bitters represents over seven years of specialized research focusing on one of the most popular cocktail bitters in the world. Dozens of vintage Abbott's Bitters bottles were assembled from the pertinent eras which defined Abbott's history: pre-US Prohibition, Prohibition, and post-Prohibition. 

Special efforts were made to obtain bottles still containing the original bitters liquid. Labels and bottle glass manufacturing styles were studied to correctly date the bottles. Historic legal documents, US census records, newspaper articles, city business directories, business correspondence and advertising material were collected and studied, to try to piece together the birth, rise and eventual disappearance of C.W. Abbott & Company.

The original recipe for Abbott's Aromatic Bitters has never been identified or passed down from the family, but after this research, we believe we know what the original bitters smelled and tasted like, even after 100 years of aging.

We also know, based on the original name of C.W. Abbott's Angostura Bitters, adopted in 1872, and the many legal confrontations thereafter resulting that the use of the word Angostura was forced to be abandoned in 1908, and that the principal ingredient in this bitters was angostura (tree) bark. Angostura bark bitters were common during most of the 19th century, originating as a tonic alternative to cinchona bark.

They eventually evolved by the last quarter of the 19th century into a highly-prized and internationally recognized style of cocktail bitters. From 1872 until 1908, various lawsuits against all producers of angostura bark bitters labeled as "Angostura Bitters" in any fashion, were instigated by the company of J.G.B. Siegert & Sons. Most producers gave up their brands or even businesses before going to court, and "angostura" bitters were eventually banned as a "type" of bitters, to be dominated by Siegert's Angostura Bitters, which did not even contain the bark, thus not truly reflecting the angostura bark flavor and aromas.

This cocktail bitters, re-baptized under its pre-Prohibition name Abbott's Aromatic Bitters, and replicating its complex, flavor-enhancing profile, so prized in a Manhattan Cocktail, is the result of this research. 50% ABV​

• 5+ POINTS OUT OF 5, HIGHEST RATED BITTERS - Diffordsguide/Class Magazine

• 96 POINTS - International Review of Spirits 2013