Angostura is a great base spirit!
Tasting Notes
Rory: This is nice! The angostura has a drying feel in the same way allspice dram is drying, but it’s not as bitter as you’d expect. It’s bright and warm.
All the balance (bitter, sweet, sour) is and right, so … It’s not even balanced-but-focusing-on-bitter; it’s just balanced.
I feel like I should have more to say, because BIG ANGO is really funny, and we couldn’t make it until we’d gotten a BIG ANGO … but it’s actually just nice. It’s unique and unusual, in a very angostura-dominated way, but it’s almost jarring how not-jarring it is. Why weren’t we using angostura like this the whole time?
I’m getting some nutmeg stuck in my throat, so that sucks. That’s my complaint.
An interesting thing is that I want to keep drinking it, but it is somehow limiting - I’m only taking a small (I think) sip at a time.
Ryan: Okay, I had just a little trepidation going in even though I knew angostura bitters aren’t actually that intensely bitter. But no, this is just pleasant. The angostura lends a nice bitter undertone but it’s not overwhelming. I have coffee which is more bitter than this all the time. This drink is just nice and I like it a lot!
I was expecting to have a lot of notes about this drink, but no, it’s just pleasant. It’s well-balanced and the novel base spirit is really nice. Honestly, angostura is playing much the same role as a bitter liqueur like Suze here, and it’s not surprising that this ends up working really well.
Recipe
- 3⁄4 oz lime juice
- 3⁄4 oz pineapple juice
- 1⁄2 oz homemade hazelut orgeat
- 1⁄2 oz cinnamon syrup
- 3⁄4 oz Flor de Cana 7 year rum
- 1 1⁄2 oz Angostura bitters
Fill a collins or swizzle cup halfway with ice. Build the drink and swizzle. Garnish with grated nutmeg. Shown: also garnished with mint, but we don’t think it quite worked.
Source: Minimalist Tiki