The Angostura Ploy

For years I've used Angostura bitters and always have watched the paper wrapping slowly become colored by the bitters splashing when they are dispensed, no matter how carefully you are. Usually a flying droplet will shoot past the vessel you're aiming at before any goes into it, and when you're done there's a new schmear on the outside of the glass and, inevitably, dripping down from the ostensible 'pouring nozzle' onto the paper wrapping. I've wondered at this because there are ancient solutions to dispensing a dash, neatly and efficiently, the same volume every time. My Victorian sister-in-law uses a Waterford dasher to add her concoction of flavors to seltzer water. No drip, no splash.

It will be 200 years next year since this stuff was invented, so why does the Angostura bottle still fail as a dispenser and why does it require a jacket? (See link on the jacket, no one knows why the spout is so bad. )There must be some reason or strategy. I think it is a marketing ploy, a reverse psychology sales tactic. Make the product messy, inexact and difficult to use, in a package that fouls itself and looks unsightly, and permanently stains your clothing and temporarily stains your skin. Then make it an absolute necessity in the consumption of liquor. What a winner this will be! Behind every bar and in every kitchen, but why? WHY?

If we knew the secret of The Angostura Ploy we could be gods.