The recipe was developed as a tonic by Johann Gottlieb Benjamin Siegert [es],[2] a German surgeon general in Simón Bolívar's army in Venezuela. Siegert began to sell it in 1824 and established a distillery for the purpose in 1830.[3] Siegert was based in the town of Angostura (afterward renamed Ciudad Bolivar) and used locally available ingredients, perhaps aided by botanical knowledge of the local Amerindians.[4] The product was sold abroad from 1853, and in 1875 manufacturing moved from Ciudad Bolivar to Port of Spain, Trinidad, where it remains.[5][2] Angostura won a medal at the Weltausstellung 1873 Wien. The medal is still depicted on the oversized label, along with the reverse, which shows Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria in profile.