By Jennifer Glickel
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — Manhattanites fond of the borough's eponymous cocktail may soon be bitter — about bitters.
A slowdown in production of angostura bitters, one of the key ingredients in a Manhattan cocktail, at the House of Angostura plant in November has caused a worldwide shortage.
CL Financial Group, the parent company of the House of Angostura based in Trinidad and Tobago, struggled with financial issues at the end of 2009, slowing bitters production, according to the New York Post.
While production has resumed, the ripple effect of the lag is now being felt in New York.
William Tigertt, owner of the Lower East Side restaurant, Freemans, tweeted his distress about the shortage on Jan. 5: "Panic! Angostura bitter plant shutdown," Tigertt wrote. "NYC distributors rationing 3 bottles per account. Hording begins as cocktail doomsday clock hits 11."
Tigertt told the Post that bar and restaurant owners are hoarding angostura bitters and some are going so far as to buy bottles on eBay.
While there are other brands of bitters, cocktail connoisseurs will not settle for anything other than angosturas.
"A lot of bars are not happy," Mark Ludmon, editor of Bar magazine, told the Guardian. "Any bar that's trying to do cocktails seriously will feel it's wrong not to use the right bitters."
