Australian Bitters Company Aromatic Bitters

Appearance: Deep crimson, ruby, or brick red. Smell: Features clove, cinnamon, allspice, citrus zest, and red wine sediment. There's a subtle fruity note, somewhat like the aroma of amari. Taste (undiluted): Clove, cinnamon, anise, fennel, and possibly gentian. It again has fruity notes. The flavor is less potent than the smell suggests, but it possesses a mild astringency and a numbing quality. The color is identical to Angostura bitters. The makers evidently desired a product that wouldn't alter the distinct hue of drinks where Angostura is used. The scent is quite close to Angostura, with a few differences. This one has a clear clove oil note, complemented by cinnamon and other spices over a dark fruit foundation. Angostura is similar but offers a strong liquorice or anise note (perhaps both?) instead of clove, with a bit more citrus in the background. Flavor-wise, the Australian bitters begins spicily before mellowing, with recurring hints of clove and other spices. Angostura starts more gently but intensifies as more spicy notes appear. In my view, it is also the more "bitter" of the two. In cocktails, the distinction is still perceptible but less pronounced and more straightforward. I first tried both in lemon, lime, and bitters (sparkling lemonade, lime syrup, and bitters), then in a pink gin. In both instances, the appearance was the same. The Australian bitters yielded slightly spicier drinks, while Angostura provided a bit more bitterness; however, they were very close, and one might not discern the difference without careful analysis. They are also similarly priced, so if you're in Australia and see this while purchasing bitters, you can buy it confidently. They also produce orange, grapefruit, and barrel spice bitters, and I intend to compare their orange to Angostura orange at a later time. "Very Good": 85/100 (4 stars)