Pampanito

The most common fruit juice used in cocktails. This citrus juice is about 6% acid; pure citric acid. Lemon juice should be used the day it is squeezed, some like it freshly squeezed and others like it a few hours old.

A super thick and dark by-product made form refining sugar cane or sugar beets into sugar syrup. It is also a component of refined brown sugar. Molasses has a very distinct, almost pot-still like funk, that pairs well in rum-based tiki drinks.

Water into which carbon dioxide gas under pressure has been dissolved, creating a fizzy texture. We treat soda water, club soda, seltzer and sparkling water the same.

Also known as pimento dram, this is an allspice berry flavored liqueur; from the pimento tree. You can make your own! Here is a recipe from Serious Eats: Measure out 1/2 cup whole allspice berries, then crush them in a mortar and pestle or grinder. Place the crushed allspice in a sealable glass jar with 1 cup rum, steep for 4 days, shaking daily. On day 5, add 1 broken cinnamon stick. Let steep for 7 more days, after 12 total days of steeping, strain out the solids through a cheesecloth. Make a syrup by combining 1 1/2 cup water and 2/3 cup brown sugar, heat until it dissolves then add it to the alcholoic mix. Let rest for an additional day, and enjoy!

A sub-set of dark, molasses-driven rums. These rums are very dark in color from added refined sugar (molasses), multiple distillation, and likely, but not always, aging in charred oak. There is no formal definition of black rum, if a recipe calls for this type of rum, it is usually refering to a very very darkly colored rum; a common example is Gosling's Black Seal. Pair it with lemon, lime, ginger and pineapple.

A concentrated aromatic bitters made in Trinidad from water, ethanol, gentian and other herbs and spices; used in many classic cocktails like the Manhattan.

A yellow citrus fruit. The peel is often used as a garnish while the juice incorporated into the drink for a tart flavor profile (citric acid).