Maggie Smith

A 16th century yellowish to colorless brandy produced in Peru by distilling fermented grape juice into a high-proof spirit, much like an Eau de vie. Pisco from Peru must be aged for at least 3 months but only in steel vats. They must be distilled to proof, and ABV tends to stay around ~40%

Also referred to as silver or white, light rums are unaged, aged in steel, or aged in oak and have had their color filtered out, and usually have a sweeter and lighter taste than darker rum varieties. The name refers to these rums lighter or clear color.

Original Curaçao triple sec, this is an orange flavoured liqueur made from a neutral sugar spirit along with the dried peels of bitter and/or sweet oranges. You can make it yourself! Here is a recipe from Serious Eats: Combine 1/4 cup orange zest (without pith), with 1 cup brandy, and 1 cup vodka in a sealable glass container. Let steep for 19 days. On day 20, add 4 whole cloves, then let steep from an additional day. Bring 2 cups sugar and 1 1/2 cup water to boil until sugar dissolves. Strain the alcoholic mixture through a cheesecloth. Add the syrup, stir to combine then seal. Let rest for 1 more day and enjoy!

The second most common juice used in cocktails. This citrus juice is about 6% acid; 4% from citric and 2% from malic, with small amounts of succinic acid (this is what gives it a little bloody taste). Lime juice should be used the day it is squeezed, some like it freshly squeezed and others like it a few hours old.

A sweet syrup made from almonds, sugar, and rose water or orange flower water. Sometimes other nut derived syrups are referred to as orgeat. You can make this yourself! There's a few recipes, this one if from liquid Intelligence. Combine 660g very hot water with 200g nuts of your choice (almonds are traditional). Blend together at high speed, then strain through a fine strainer or cheescloth. Add salt if you'd like. Then combine 500g nut milk with 500g sugar, blend to combine. If the emulsion breaks, use a stick blender to quickly recombine (or shake hard before using). If you're up for it, add 1.75g Ticaloid 210s and 0.2g xanthan gum to stablize the emulsion. If you can't find Ticaloid, use a mixture of gum arabic and xanthan gum in a ratio of 9:1. This recipe doesn't use rose or orange flower water, if you'd like you can add small teaspoon of either.

A syrup produced by bees (apis). Pure honey is 82% sugar and very viscous, if you add 64g water to every 100g honey you can make a thinner honey syrup that will substitute (with respect to sweetness) for simple syrup in any recipe, equivalent to 1.1:1 honey to water by volume. We try to always use 1:1 syrups by mass. However, most sources measure honey syrups by volume, this tends to make comparing recipes across sources that use honey syrups complicated, we tried to state what the original source uses in the recipe text. If no extra information is given, assume the syrup to be 1:1 by volume (eq ~1.4:1 by mass). Proteins in natural honey provide structure to bubbles in shaken drinks.

Small, round, green citrus fruits. Commonly used in many cocktails for its rind or its acidic taste (6% acid total; 4% citric, 2% malic, some succinic acid).