I was taught from an early age to always be prepared

Keep your home well stocked

Never run out of toilet paper

Always have a few cold beers in the fridge

Keep the bar well stocked in case of unexpected guests

We tend to buy replacement liquor before the bottle gets empty

There is however one exception

Angostora bitters never run out so why bother buying a backup

The bottle has an oversize lable that completely covers the contents

Rumor has it the label was printed oversize in error

They decided to stick with it as a gimmick

I do not buy into that theory at all

I think the bottle contains a magic beetle 

That absorbs water from the air

And feeds on some tropical plant that grows in there too

The beetle secretes a bitter liquid

That’s why your bottle of bitters will never run out 

Yesterday we had guests and I made a Manhattan

I followed my usual recipe

Starting with one of those oversize ice cubes in a glass

I poured in some Bulleit Rye and Dollans red vermouth

Then I started to add 4 drops of Angostura bitters

But horror of horrors only three drops came out

I tried shaking and squeezing the bottle to no avail

For the first time in my life I witnessed the end of the bitters

Perhaps the magic beetle just died of old age

He had lived a long happy life inside that bottle

Providing bitters for me to share with friends and family

He did us proud

Right up to the bitter end