In Drinks International’s annual Brands Report, Angostura remains the definitive cocktail bitters brand used in the world’s best bars. It’s so popular that you could argue it acts as a proprietary eponym for the segment, with many consumers believing all bitters are Angostura.

For more than 200 years Angostura has been trading its bitters, but they haven’t always been the essential seasoning in an Old Fashioned. Their purpose has changed over that time, having originally been medicinal before transitioning to both cocktail bars and kitchens.

It’s said that every Caribbean household has a bottle of Angostura in the kitchen cabinet – an essential ingredient for soups, fish and meat. Beyond the white sand beaches celebrity chef Tom Kerridge uses Angostura bitters in his family-style orange sauce recipe, typically served with Christmas pudding.

As part of the Angostura Global Cocktail Challenge, which launched in 2001, culinary tasks have frequently featured as part of the brand’s efforts to encourage use in the kitchen. More modern brands have launched in the past 10 years in collaboration with chefs, including Bittered Sling, but there’s surely more space for growth in the culinary world. 

The Bitter Truth is a German brand launched in 2006 and speaking at Prowein, is eyeing Africa as a potential market for growth in both kitchens and bars.

“Africa is a bit of an untouched territory for cocktails,” says Stephan Berg, co-founder. “I haven’t been there for a long time but heard good things about some bigger cities – there’s actually a bar show in Accra, Ghana, in early August which we are considering attending. Surprisingly, Ghana and Nigeria are big bitters markets, but mainly for cooking and as aphrodisiacs.”

Marketing for the latter may be an unorthodox transition, but appealing to chefs seems like an obvious, and thus far undervalued, strategy for bitters brands.

Bitters & Soda

For The Bitter Truth, the main focus is further east. Berg adds: “We are currently focused more on Asia – it is a huge market with a thriving cocktail scene. People don’t seem to be as overstimulated when it comes to choice of brands as in some western countries, and they’re open to discover new things and eager to learn more.”

It’s true that in 2026 cocktail bitters remain largely known for their role in classics like an Old Fashioned and Manhattan. But there’s another way, a simpler way, for a wider audience to be exposed to cocktail bitters. A Bitters & Soda is quite common in parts of the US as a virtually alcohol-free serve, yet seldom do you hear one being ordered in Europe or Asia.

Earlier this year Jordan Michelman wrote a feature in American publication Punch specifically about which soda brands to pair with certain bitters. In comparison, if you ordered a Bitters & Soda in the UK you’d likely be given Fever-Tree and Angostura.

Berg adds: “With the momentum of the low & no movement, Bitters & Soda is something we have been pushing for quite some time. In our opinion this is a natural fit to add balance and complexity which is missing most of the time. And you get endless options when applying several bitters in one drink, maybe with a touch of citrus peel. You also don’t get the chemicals and stabilisers usually found in non-alc ‘spirits’. But this is not a new thing, Bitters & Soda was quite standard in the 19th century.”

As with most simple serves there’s usually a demand for them in a can. We witnessed the explosive seltzer movement a few years back and now every supermarket serves canned Palomas and Spritz.

In 2021 Angostura launched its Chill range of four different flavoured sodas which use Angostura bitters in the recipe. Following the release of its ginger variety in 2023, Angostura chief executive Ian Forbes said: “Bitters-based refreshers have been fashionable for centuries. Now, we are seeing an eager pull towards the new and fresh – without losing notes of that familiar past. Angostura Chill bottles this hybrid space with a signature edge – a soft drink and easy mixer that sees refreshment innovation meet an iconic, storied, flavoured past.” It’s wordy, but Forbes is essentially saying there’s a demand for premium soft drinks, and Angostura is well positioned to provide.

In New York, Hella Cocktail Co launched its canned Bitters & Soda in 2019 before receiving investment from incubator company Pronghorn in 2023. In the same year that Hella entered into RTDs, so too did Oregon based The Bitter Housewife with the launch of its non-alcoholic, zero-calorie Bitters & Soda in a can. However last year the brand went under.

“It truly is bittersweet,” says co-founder Genevieve Brazelton speaking to Forbes. “My gut says that people are changing the way they drink and the way they spend money on drinks. While there is a rise in (non-alcoholic beverages) and they may be drinking less, there is a shift, as people are more intentional on how they spend their money on alcohol, and a really discretionary product like bitters isn’t on their list.”

In 2021 Dry Soda Co launched three of its own Bitters & Soda RTDs but in January of this year, after 21 years of trading, it too went out of business.

Founder Sharelle Klaus says: “Dry is a brand I believe will find its way back. The challenges of being an independent producer may have caught up with us in this moment, but I do not believe this is the end. I hope this is only a pause.”

A canned Bitters & Soda ticks a lot of boxes. It’s virtually alcohol free, usually zero calories, no caffeine and can sit in the premium RTD space. Yet even in New York, probably the most developed market for cocktail bitters outside the Caribbean, it doesn’t seem to be the case. Perhaps these brands came too soon, or perhaps it simply is too niche a product, but there’s definitely space for cocktail bitters to elevate the non-alc space. If brands can align with this fast-growing segment and sit on the shelves of more domestic kitchens, it may move beyond The Old Fashioned and Manhattan in the mainstream.