Category: Cocktails

Another cocktail that originated in the Savoy Cocktail, the White Lady is a mixture of gin, orange liqueur, and lemon.  If these ingredients sound a lot like a Sidecar to you, then you won’t be surprised to hear that this drink can be quite intense (depending on the proportions used).   In the original guise that mirrored the Sidecar’s equal parts, it was perhaps too much, something we realized quickly during our testing.  As a result, we recommend you follow the subsequent recipes that include an egg white.  This addition makes a floral, restrained drink that’s refreshing and nuanced.

White Lady

White Lady

1 ½ oz

Gin

¾ oz

Cointreau

¾ oz

Lemon

1

Egg White (Optional)

Combine all ingredients in a shaker. Add ice and shake. Double strain into a coupe. Garnish with a lemon twist.

In it’s original format, the White Lady comes out a bit too bracing in this format.  You’d do best to reduce this by about 1/4 oz of lemon to balance the acidity.   Add in egg white though, and the cocktail opens up in a floral and perfumed essence of lemon and gin.  The entire drink becomes a study in restraint, as orange and lemon come forward and the gin shows itself through the lens.

Drink Notes & Recommendations

The White Lady is a bracing and powerfully acidic drink.  In all likelihood you will find that you want to adjust the lemon down here.  That said, the template has some pretty subtly in it’s character, so don’t write it off as this template has some potential.

• Gin:  We used London Dry in our experiments (both Beefeater and Bombay).  We recommend you choose a gin here you like and experiment with bolder modern gins like Aviation.
• Cointreau:  While you could use another orange liqueur, Cointreau is the gold standard here.  However, it should be noted that some sources call for Dry Curacao, similar to Pierre Ferrand’s.  This is likely recommended if you choose to make the drink egg white free.
• Lemon:  Use fresh squeezed for best results.
• Optional Ingredient:  One large egg white can be added requiring a different shake technique.   The reason you’d want to add an egg is to give it fuller, silkier texture.  It’ll reduce the acid as well.
  • Combine all ingredients including the egg white in a shaker.  Add 1 – 2 medium ice cubes or the spring from a shaker.  Shake hard for 15-30 seconds.  Separate the shaker and add ice.  Shake hard to chill.  Double strain into a coupe.
• Garnish: No Garnish
• Glassware:  A coupe will add simple elegance here..

Hemingway was a prolific writer and drink, but not much for the sweeter things.  Spending time living in Cuba, he frequented the El Floridita where the Hemingway Daiquiri was reportedly created.  This variation of a daiquiri eschews simple syrup for maraschino liquor and adds grapefruit juice.  The result is a refreshing if drier drink that just might have you looking for a pen.

Hemingway Daiquiri

Hemingway Daiquiri

2 oz

Lightly Aged Rum

¾ oz

Lime Juice

½ oz

Maraschino Liqueur

½ oz

Grapefruit Juice

Combine all ingredients in a shaker. Add ice and shake. Double strain into a chilled coupe. Garnish with a lime wedge.

The Hemingway Daiquiri lets the rum shine, but ensembles the rest of the supporting cast in way that no one gets left out.  The cherry and almond notes from the Luxardo bounce off the bittersweet grapefruit and the lime pops.  The drink is complex and rich, but also leans into the drier side of the spectrum.  The result is refreshing but boozy.

Drink Notes & Recommendations

The Hemingway Daiquiri is a simple and straightforward construction, so the tips are primarily related to the sweetness.  Where a daiquiri is typically a proposition of balance between sweetness and acidity, the Hemingway is drier.  The only sweetener here is the maraschino liqueur, so if you find the drink too dry, you might have to adjust with additional simple.  As always, we recommend you start with the basic recipe and adjust accordingly from there.

• Rum –  For lightly aged rums we recommend El Dorado 3, Plantation 3 Star, or Appleton Signature for a little extra funk.  As the rum contributes a significant amount of character here, you’ll notice significant changes from rum to rum.  For example, El Dorado 3 will emphasize more of the vanilla and cotton candy notes, where as Plantation 3 Star will contribute more tropical fruit notes.  For a more complex experience, try splitting the 2 oz base between multiple rums.
• Maraschino Liqueur – Having recently shared a drink that features maraschino liqueur, I want to start by clarifying that this is the liqueur – not the syrup that the cherries are packed in.  We use Luxardo for our which comes in a straw bottle.   An example of a bottle for purchase is here at Astor Wine.
• Lime Juice – For best result – use fresh squeezed lime juice.
• Grapefruit Juice – Similar to limes, use fresh squeezed grapefruit juice for best results.  Packaged grapefruit juices can have a bit of metallic taste, which may impact your cocktail.  Be aware that due to variations in sweetness and variety (pink versus white, etc) – you may find the need to add additional simple to help address seasonal changes in grapefruits.

Despite the modern appearance, the Clover Club actually predates prohibition.  The cocktail originated in Philadelphia as early as the late 1800’s.  While it was popular, it was nearly lost to history during prohibition and the following period.  One of the many cocktails that owes it’s re-emergence to Reagan’s Joy of Mixology, the Clover Club is a beautiful, rich, and elegant cocktail that deserves your attention and time to make.

Clover Club

Clover Club

1 ½ oz

Gin

½ oz

Dry Vermouth

½ oz

Lemon Juice

½ oz

Raspberry Syrup

½ oz

Egg White

Combine all ingredients in a shaker vessel. Dry shake for 30 seconds. Unseal the container and add ice. Shake until chilled. Double strain into a chilled coupe. Garnish with fresh raspberries (and dried powdered raspberries if desired).

The Clover Club is smooth, gentle, fruity, and balanced.  The herbal notes of the gin combine with the alpine notes of the dry vermouth to give a subtle herbal complexity to the background.  The fruitiness lays over the top as various bright wine notes mingle with fresh raspberry and pops of citrus. The creaminess of the egg whites binds everything together, and makes the drink feel rich.  The formula works and makes the Clover Club a must try classic.

Drink Notes & Recommendations

The hardest part of our Clover Club is preparing the raspberry syrup.  Our raspberry syrup is a significantly gentler, less aggressive syrup, and is lighter in color. Most of the other ingredients will be fairly standard.

• Gin – This recipe can use London Dry or Plymouth Gin.  Given the egg white’s nature to gentle the gin, we’d even suggest that contemporary gins like Aviator will work well here.  In ours, we used Plymouth, which featured a nice smoothness.
• Dry Vermouth – We used our standard Dolin Dry Vermouth here, and it works very well.  As the dry vermouth is working as an accent, feel free to switch it up and see how it adjusts the drink.
• Lemon Juice – For best results, use fresh squeezed.
• Egg White –  The recipe here calls for ½ oz of Egg White. For a large egg, this works out to about half an egg white.  If you’re opposed to eggs, consider using Aquafaba (chickpea water from the can) at approximately 20g.   You can also use cocktail foamer or pasteurized egg white.
• Raspberry Syrup – See below for instructions.

In terms of technique, you’re going to need to dry shake.  One recommendation for making dry shaking more effective is to add a cocktail spring or ice cube to add a point to disrupt the proteins.   Shake for 30 seconds, remove the spring (the ice cube will have fully melted by this point) and then add ice.  Shake until chilled (8-12 seconds), and then double strain to eliminate any stray egg proteins.

Raspberry Syrup

• 120 g sugar
• 120 g water
• 40 g raspberries

Combine water, sugar, and raspberries in a small mason jar or sous vide bag.  If using a mason jar, you may gently muddle the raspberries with the sugar for added color and flavor.  Seal, and heat for 2 hours @ 135.  Remove from heat and allow to cool.  Strain through a fine mesh strainer and coffee filter.  If desired, add a neutral grain spirit at 5-10% of the finished weight as a preservative.   Refrigerate.  Dispose of if any clouding or mold develops.

The Kentucky Derby is almost upon us once again.  The ‘most exciting two minutes in sports’ is the first leg of the triple crown and home to some amazing hats and more than a little bourbon.  One of the most associated classic drinks with the race is the Mint Julep.  So grab some pellet ice, a bottle of bourbon, some fresh minute, and we’ll explain how to make this classic for your Kentucky Derby celebration!

Mint Julep

Algonquin

2 ½ oz

Bourbon

½ oz

Simple Syrup

Mint

Leaves

In a chilled julep cup, combine a couple mint leaves and the simple syrup. Gently muddle. Add bourbon and top with people ice. Gently stir or swizzle to melt the pebble ice until the ice dilutes and the outside of the cup becomes frosty. Add people ice on top, and garnish with a mint bouquet. For added mint fragrance, slap the outside of the julep tin with the mint as well.

It’s important to head into the Mint Julep with an understanding that it tastes like mint.  If you’re not a fan of mint, then, in all likelihood, you won’t find the Mint Julep to be enjoyable as it is mint forward.  The nice thing is that as the drink continues to dilute with the pebble ice, you will see various expressions of both the mint and bourbon.  While bourbon will add fruitiness and spice, the cool mint will add refreshing herbal notes.  For these reasons it’s a delightfully refreshing and spring like drink.

Drink Notes & Recommendations

Mint Juleps are easy to make and in a similar vein to an Old Fashioned but with a key focus on dilution.  Using proper ice consistency is critical here, more than any other part of this drink, so we’re doing to start with that.

• Ice – In most cocktails, we think about ice as a way to introduce dilution slowly.  Since this is a function of surface area, bigger ice means slower dilution and more chilling.  Mint Juleps require the opposite, fast and plentiful dilution.  For this purpose, you want small ice.  There are a few ways to do this:
  • Your Fridge’s Ice Crusher – This will work but has some drawbacks.  You’ll get inconsistent sized pieces of ice but they will complete the desired effect.
  • Using a Lewis Bag & Mallet – This will work better, and provide you with small if somewhat inconsistent and possibly snowed ice.  It’s not perfect, but it gives you more control through more elbow grease.
  • Pellet Ice – Pellet Ice is normally awful, but it’s perfect for juleps.  You could buy a pellet ice maker, but that’s expensive.  Go to Sonic or Chick-Fil-A and they will sell you a whole bag on the cheap.
• Bourbon – We used Buffalo Trace here for some of the cherry and oak notes, but use whatever you find most enjoyable.   As the bourbon plays a prominent role, you can use better quality, just look out for the influence of mint which could amplify rye or overpower subtler notes.  For more ideas, check out our Bourbon Rankings.
• Simple Syrup – We specify ½ oz here, but feel free to tweak between ¼ oz and ½ oz to find what works best for you.  You can also adjust the bourbon down to 2 oz here for this purpose.
• Mint – Obviously fresh mint is important.  Mint is introduced in 2 – 3 key ways in this drink.  First, by muddling you impart the oils and flavors into the syrup.  Second, you impart the aroma with the bouquet.  The third optional way, is to smack the outside of the mug with mint, which will impart aroma and faint oils on the outside of the cup.  This can be done for another layer of depth to the drink.

Cinco de Mayo is well known for tequila and the logical thought is that it should be celebrated with Margaritas.  You would think this might be especially true in Mexico as well.  However, outside of one particular area of Mexico, Cinco de Mayo isn’t really celebrated, and Margaritas aren’t nearly as popular as Palomas.  The Paloma is originally a mixture of grapefruit soda, lime, and tequila, although more modern interpretations bring in actual grapefruit juice.  Compared to the margarita the list of ingredients make it even easier to build, so why not try one out.

Paloma

Paloma

2 oz

Tequila

4 oz

Grapefruit Soda

½ oz

Lime Juice

Salt

Rim (Optional)

If using a salted rim, cut the lime and run it around the outside of the edge or a Collins or double rocks glass. On a flat surface, spread salt, and roll the rim of the glass through it. Build the drink in the glass with the ingredients above. Add ice and garnish with a grapefruit wedge.

The Paloma delivers a refreshing mix of sweet, sour, and agave notes with a hint of grapefruit.  The start of the drink is tinged with hints of grapefruit from the garnish that give way to a sweetened version via the soda.  The tequila then kicks up, in this case adding notes of spice and other citrus, as well as cooked agave flavor.  The tequila elements linger on the finish,  while the lime, bubbles, and grapefruit notes keep things refreshing.

Drink Notes & Recommendations

The Paloma is a refreshing and engaging cocktail that serves a vessel for the tequila.  Modern interpretations tilt this toward the grapefruit by adding in fresh grapefruit juice and soda in place of grapefruit soda.  The result is a much more citrus forward drink, that belies the original grapefruit soda and tequila formal, but feels more natural and bitter.

• Tequila –  Tequila can make or break this cocktail.  In our testing we worked with Siete Leguas Blanco, Pasote Blanco, and Olmeca Altos Blanco. Due to the high percentage compared with the soda and lime, the flavors of the tequila will directly drive the drink.  If you see a pattern there, it’s due to the refreshing nature of blanco tequila.  Don’t let that limit you though, reposado can work here as well.
• Grapefruit Soda –  The most commonly available grapefruit sodas are Ting, Squirt, and Jarritos.  All of which can be hit and miss to find in your region and have different flavor profiles.  We recommend using what you can find, and trying multiple sodas to determine what you like best.  In our area, we’ve only been able to find Jarritos, which we find enjoyable if not captivating.
• Lime Juice – Always use fresh squeezed for best results.

Meaning “little rose” in Spanish, the Rosita is a founded in the template of a Negroni made with tequila.  In fact, the original recipe in the 1970s called for equal parts tequila and Campari, giving it a distinctly Negroni like character.    Despite this, the Negroni wasn’t particularly popular, and disappeared for years.  When it finally resurfaced, the overall character remained the same, but the drink got a decidedly stronger tequila focus.  The result is a drink that channels a Negroni’s spirit, but give Tequila the space it needs to strut its stuff.

Rosita

Rosita

1 ½ oz

Reposado Tequila

½ oz

Campari

½ oz

Dry Vermouth

½ oz

Sweet Vermouth

Dash

Angostura Bitters

Combine all ingredients in a mixing vessel. Add ice and stir. Strain into a rocks glass with ice. Garnish with a lemon twist.

The Rosita combines a gentle smokiness and caramel with a bright, herbal bittersweetness.   The play of the vermouth with the Campari gives it a distinctly Negroni like flavor, and fans of the bitter will find a lot to love here.  The flavor of the reposado really gives an extra depth here, providing dimensions of roasted agave, caramel, and oakiness.    The finish continues some of smokiness with a citrusy character.

Drink Notes & Recommendations

The Rosita highlights the sweet, roasted, gentle aging of tequila against the bright and bitter runs of tequila.  The result is a drink that depends on the spirit as a backbone, but leaves room to explore itself through variation of the bitter and vermouth.

• Tequila  – For this recipe the lightly aged reposado is going to offer the best impact for the price.  The subtle notes of oak and spice compliment the bitterness, vinous notes, and touches of herbs.  The result is something that the oak influence adds a much need complexity that blanco wouldn’t provide.  We used Olmeca Altos Reposado and found it worked quite well here.
• Campari – While there are no direct substitutes for Campari, you can play around with another amaro – such as Aperol.
• Dry Vermouth – We used our standard Dolin Dry Vermouth here, but feel free to use what you have on hand or what you enjoy most.  The dry and sweet vermouths will play background here, which is important, but won’t be critical.
• Sweet Vermouth –  Normally we recommend the strong vanilla and spice complexity of Carpano Antica, but in this case, we suggest consider something lighter, like Cocchi di Torino or Martini & Rossi.  You can certainly use Carpano, but be prepared for the vanilla to be more prevalent.
• Angostura – These are the classic bitters and behave perfectly here adding clove and cinnamon plus a bit of bittering agent.  Adjusting this will chance some fundamental binding elements and flavor notes.  We recommend you start with Angostura, and consider adjusting if you like the start point.

The Last Word is one of the quintessential equal parts cocktails and a study in balance.  Likely created pre-prohibition, the Last Word received a resurgence in the early 2000s when Seattle’s Zig Zag Cafe added to the menu.   Many members of the pre-prohibition cocktail movement took note, and the cocktail first spread across Seattle, and then ultimately the collective drinking world.  While at the time ingredients like Green Chartreuse could be hard to find, they’ve since become plentiful, so finding the ingredients to make the drink shouldn’t be an issue.

Last Word

Last Word

¾ oz

Gin

¾ oz

Maraschino Liqueur

¾ oz

Green Chartreuse

¾ oz

Lime Juice

Combine all ingredients in a mixing vessel. Add ice and stir. Double strain into a chilled coupe. No garnish.

The Last Word is a brilliant study in balance.  Sweet is in taught balance with sour, spice and herb are in perfect harmony.  The light cherry and almond like notes resonate beautifully with the fresh lime and run perfectly with the chartreuse’s and gin’s complex herbaceous notes.  Overall, every sip is electric, and wonderfully grounded in showing off every facet of it’s components.

Drink Notes & Recommendations

The Last Word is a riffable template, with drinks like Naked & Famous being generated from it.  Start with the original and see it in action before playing with the template, it will help you understand how it works and why it works (especially as you encounter failures).

• Gin –  London Dry is the go to for an original, but you could easily substitute for contemporary styles.  We made ours with Beefeater, but could also it being delicious with Aviation.  For a bolder gin riff, consider using a Navy Strength gin.
• Maraschino Liqueur –  We used Luxardo, which is one of the most common maraschino liqueurs you can find.  It’s distinctive for it’s straw like exterior.
• Green Chartreuse –  Sadly there’s no real substitute for this herbal liqueur, so you’ll need to procure a bottle.  Be prepared to pay upwards of $50 a bottle for a 750.
• Lime – Use fresh squeezed as always for best results.

The Highball is one of the proto-cocktail templates that underpins a variety of drinks from the Americano to the Cuba Libre to the Gin and Tonic.  The concept is simple, spirit and sparkling water.  Adding citrus and you can end up with a Buck, Collins, or Rickey.  While the origins appear to be around the turn of the twentieth century, the exact story is lost to time.  What should it matter though, the Highball remains a delicious drink over a hundred years later.

Highball

Highball

2 oz

Whiskey

4 oz

Cold Seltzer

In a highball (or double rocks glass) add a large ice cube. Add whiskey over ice and wait 5 – 10 seconds. Add seltzer, stir once, and serve. No garnish.

The Highball is nearly completely dependent on the choice of whiskey used. Using Suntory Toki here, the elements of cereal notes are expanded with the seltzer, and allowing them to express themselves. This is a difference from the spices, touches of heat, and green apple skin that are present in the raw whiskey. The apple notes are now more subtle, and perhaps even slightly crushed or the flavor an apple cut over an hour ago. The caramel and spice present in the original now make up the background, and now add notes of minerality and toasted grain.  There’s even a really gentle floralness and elegance that expresses itself.   The highball is therefore and extension of the whiskey you start with.

Drink Notes & Recommendations

The Highball is base cocktail.  In it’s purest form, the highball is two things, a spirit and a non-alcoholic mixer.  The result is an endlessly riffable drink, including things like the Gin and Tonic, Bloody Mary, and Mimosa.  As the drink is so simple, there is no room for a spirit to hide, so high quality spirits are critical to execution.

• Whiskey – This is the flavor of the highball.  If you start with a whiskey you don’t like, you’re unlikely to find that you like it significantly better in a highball.  Whiskey is a temperamental spirit and, prior to the rush to turn everything whiskey into cask strength expressions, common wisdom used to be to add a drop of water to your whiskey when served neat to help express the true character.   This thought process is founded in the idea that the molecules in the whiskey expand, opening up new flavors and smells.  A highball is a semi-similar though process, just on scale.  You’re adding a significant amount of neutral spirit, so expect the flavors to expand and change – but they will not get stronger.  Our general recommendation is to start at 4 oz of seltzer, and add or subtract from there (add for more complex / intense whiskeys, subtract for gentler bottlings)
  • Scotch – Highly peated scotches (like Laphroaig or Lagavulin) may require more seltzer, while other non-peated whiskeys like Glenlivet may require less.
  • Japanese Whiskey – These blends are generally closer to scotch in their flavor profiles, and should therefore be adjusted accordingly.  The expectation is that generally you shouldn’t see overwhelmingly peated expressions, so 4:2 ratios should work well.
  • Irish – Expect to follow similar 4:2 ratios compared with Japanese whiskeys.  Exceptions should be expected for finished whiskeys (in other barrels – like sherry or madeira)
  • Bourbon / Rye –  Unlike the other whiskeys list, expect to experience significant impacts from the base spirit (especially for bonded, barrel / cask strength).  These whiskeys can have strong profiles.  The goal is to balance them with the seltzer.
• Seltzer – Seltzer is the purest form of carbonated water.  There are no minerals added (Club has additional minerals to mimic mineral water).  For the most control, use seltzer.  Club is an acceptable substitute, but note that the minerals added can adjust citrus and bitterness.

The Chrysanthemum is another cocktail that’s experienced some amount of recipe flux since it’s creation.  Reportedly the original was actually equally parts dry vermouth and Benedictine.  Most interpretations have turned this down even further, leading to a 2:1 ratio of Dry Vermouth to Benedictine.  At an ounce of Benedictine, this seems like a lot. Still, there are few cocktails that feature Dry Vermouth as the main ingredient, so this feels like it’s worth a spin.

Chrysanthemum

Chrysanthemum

2 oz

Dry Vermouth

1 oz

Benedictine

2 Dashes

Absinthe

Combine all ingredients in a mixing vessel. Add ice and stir. Double strain into a chilled coupe. Garnish with an orange twist.

The Chrysanthemum is sweet, herbal, and floral.  The start of the sip is nigh cloying with candy spiced sweetness that gives way into a mix of herbal notes. The herbs pick up some of the spice before bringing in the brightness of the wine.  The spices are amazingly layered, ranging from cinnamon to clove to nutmeg.  The flavor of the herbs are earthy, almost garigue like, with a green wormwood character. Overall, it’s a deeply flavored cocktail with a good layering that with its low ABV won’t put you down and out.

Drink Notes & Recommendations

Like all cocktails with limited ingredient sets, there’s not a lot of places to hide.  So the quality of these ingredients are important to the final outcome.  Regardless of the ingredients you use, you’ll note this drink is deeply on the sweet side of things.  This is largely due to the Benedictine, and the almost comical ounce of the ingredient. Some of the more modern takes on this drink counter this by adjusting the ratio of sweet vermouth to 2 ½ oz while reducing the Benedictine to ½ oz.

• Dry Vermouth – There are few drinks that call for Dry Vermouth as the primary ingredient.  As such, consider one of a high quality such as Dolin or Noilly Prat.
• Benedictine – Due to the herbal notes and honeyed sweetness that go into this brandy based liqueur, we don’t recommend swapping this for anything else.  Similar to certain other classics, this is both a specific liqueur and a brand recommendation.
• Absinthe – The amount of absinthe is low in this drink, but you can think of it similarly to bitters in an Old Fashioned.  As a result, your choice of absinthe is your seasoning of choice or whatever you happen to have on hand.  Our default absinthe of choice is St. George Absinthe Verte.

Cameron’s Kick first appears in the early 1920’s and, if you’ll believe this, promptly leaves out exactly who Cameron is or why the drink bears that name.  Instead, the author Harry McElhone elaborates on the fact that the orgeat syrup in this case must be made with almonds.  Having tried the cocktail both with syrups containing almond, and those that do not, we can say he’s right, although we do wish he might have been able to elaborate a bit more on the drink’s construction.  This is as this particular cocktail is decidedly unusual for the time period, featuring a split base of both Irish and Scotch Whiskey.

Cameron’s Kick

Cameron’s Kick

1 oz

Irish Whiskey

1 oz

Scotch Whiskey

¾ oz

Lemon Juice

½ oz

Orgeat

Combine all ingredients in a shaker vessel. Add ice and shake. Double strain into a chilled coupe. No garnish.

Cameron’s Kick pulls in the nuttiness of the orgeat – but despite a half an ounce it isn’t super sweet. The cereal and grain notes from the whiskeys pull it in and they catch up on the backside with a fruitiness that starts kind of pome fruit but moves into that cherry-almond sweetness before ending with a hint of smokiness on the finish.  The uniqueness is pleasant, balanced, and refreshing.

Drink Notes & Recommendations

We made an inordinate number of Cameron’s Kicks in testing the impact of multiple different orgeat syrups.  Having done so, we can attest that while the kick is primarily determined by the whiskey you choose, the choice of orgeat ends up dictacting a lot of how the drink stitches together.  As said, for best results, use something made with actual almonds.

• Irish Whiskey – We really liked something a bit more elegant here, a task that Knappogue Castle pulled off in a stellar fashion.  You could also use something a bit bigger for a kick, but floral and fruit notes play wonderfully with the orgeat.
• Scotch Whiskey – While Great King St. Artist’s Blend was lovely and offered a good amount more apple, grain, caramel, and a hint of smoke, we really loved Glenlivet 12.  The addition of the pineapple and vanilla notes really sing here.  Really, the choice of scotch here is all personal preference, but there’s very little room for it to hide in this drink.  Experiment to find what works best for you (like adding a bit of smokiness with a big Islay)
• Orgeat – We tried everything from Fee Brothers to Small Hand Foods orgeats and found a surprising amount of variation.  We can – with some confidence, inform you that you should completely avoid Fee Brothers Orgeat here.  It’s artificial tasting, and rather unpleasant.  The best in our testing were Ferrera Orgeat and Small Hand Foods.  While Small Hand is more expensive, there’s a true nuttiness here (although it is more subtle).  Ferrara also includes real almonds, but has a slightly cherry like artificial note that flirts around the edges.  However, you get more Ferrera (almost triple) for about half the cost of Small Hands.
• Lemon Juice – Use fresh squeezed for best results.