PatrickLondon, you probably did hear production had stopped - according to this article there were incorrect rumours about the production in 2009.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angostura_bitters

Lavandula

(nice to know I can keep ordering lemon, lime and bitters)

Bokhara2 on Oct 2, 10 at 12:22pm
" had a soda & bitters in Sydney today."
Nice one Bokhara. And I had several pints of bitter here in Cardiff. :-)

"a pint a bitters"
Never heard that one, although they may have said something like...

"can I have 2 Bitters"

Meaning 2 pints of bitter.

Don't watch that rubbish so can't confirm ;-)

Just poor diction/slack speech, I guess, Mucky.

"of" seems to morph into "a" - coupla, pint a, etc.

Other theories: (1) They were so thirsty, they were gasping & the words got stuck (2) They'd already had more than enough & were slurring.

I don't watch it either - didn't realize it was still showing. It must be 40+ years old, surely. Couldn't stand it then & I'm sure it won't have improved with re-running.

It's not exactly bitter here today; but it's a jolly poor showing for the first day of daylight saving! Rain & mist - can't see beyond the trees across the road ... all the ocean, cliffs etc shrouded in "liquid sunshine".

Angostura Bitters are essential in the Old-Fashioned, the Manhattan, the Champagne Cocktail, etc. There was a bottleneck (no pun intended) last year, but it seems to be happily resolved.

Rachel Maddow covered this important issue:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/0..._n_540219.html

Note that there are other kinds of bitters as well, including Peychaud's (essential in a Sazerac), and orange bitters (very good in a Martini). Angostura makes a good version of orange bitters in addition to their better-known aromatic bitters.

On replay it is clear that it was 'a pint of bitter' - the confusion came as the subtitles - which i at times need to understand that regional dialect - always said - there were several requests for 'a pint of bitter' - bitters on the screen so it appeared even that the person saying it said it.

So that is cleared up and i thank all for setting me straight.

Tonic water with some Angostura bitters also helps settle a queasy stomach.