Henry Jeffreys’ Empire of drinks: Angostura Bitters

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/jan/02/world-of-drinks-angostura-bitters-history

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I’ve invented a new cocktail. I call it the Phil Mitchell. It consists of an effervescent paracetamol tablet, sparkling water, a slice of lime and a splash of Angostura bitters.

It’s so called after an episode of Eastenders where Phil Mitchell, an alcoholic, balding hard-case trying to stay sober, starts drinking soda water enlivened with a splash of Angostura bitters after getting bored with orange juice. It is recommended to him by a not-entirely trustworthy barman who is himself a former alcoholic.

Angostura bitters is named after the town in Venezuela where it was invented in 1824 by Johann Siegert, a German doctor. In 1875, the company moved to Trinidad, where it is still made to this day. It was originally a tonic and seasickness remedy, which may be why it was popularised by the Royal Navy, who mixed it with Plymouth gin to make a pink gin.

Colonial types in India developed the drink further by adding onions pickled in chilli vinegar to make a gin piaj, or gin pahit as it was called in Malaya. “Pahit” means “bitter” in Malay. Somerset Maugham mentions it in his short story P&O: “The Irishman ordered a dry Martini for her and a gin pahit. He had lived too long in the East to drink anything else.”

The pink gin is synonymous with a particularly British brand of despair, so it’s not much of a surprise that it features in the works of Graham Greene. In The Heart of the Matter, Henry Scobie, an intelligence officer stationed in Sierra Leone, anaesthetises himself with the stuff: “There was always, sooner or later, bad news that had to be broken, comforting lies to be uttered, pink gins to be consumed to keep misery away.” Cheers!

But you don’t need to be a washed-up colonial soak to enjoy Angostura bitters. You don’t even need gin; a splash of bitters is great way of livening up a soft drink.

My new cocktail works particularly well as a mid-morning pick-me-up (that’s code for a hangover cure), the lime and the bitters disguising the chemical taste of the paracetamol. Angostura bitters is 44% alcohol, but you use such a small amount that it has no intoxicating properties.

Unless, that is, you’re Phil Mitchell, whose soda and bitters led to him falling off the wagon spectacularly.

Henry Jeffreys is a drinks writer based in London. His first book, Empire of Booze, will be published by Unbound in 2016. Twitter: @henrygjeffreys