Mai Tai Swizzle

A juice used in some cocktails for its tart and acidic properties. Grapefruit juice can be pre-squeezed and kept fresh for many days like orange juice, unlike lemon and lime juice.

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 brand of triple sec produced in France. It is drunk as an aperitif, degestif, and used in cocktails like the margarita; 40% ABV.

The general term for the Carribean-based nonalcoholic syrup. Falernum is a sweet syrup commonly used in tropical drinks and usually flavored with almond, ginger, cloves, vanilla, allspice and lime. You can make it yourself, it takes a few days. Combine 1/3 cup toasted almonds with 1/2 cup for light rum. Seal and let sit for 2 days. Add the zest of 8 limes (no pith) and 30 whole cloves, stir and let sit for another day. Juice 4 limes and strain the juice into a sauce pot. Add 2/3 cups water and 1/2 cup sugar and cook until the sugar is dissolved. Let the syrup cool then combine it with the almond/rum infusion. Stir to combine then strain all through a cheesecloth or coffee filter. Add alcohol as a preservative and turn it into Velvet Falernum.

A subset of aged (dark) rums that specifically come from Jamaica. These rums are highly regarded for their unusual pot-still funk, necessary for certain classic cocktails.

Also called amber rums, gold rums are medium-bodied rums that get their coloring from added sugars like molasses or caramel. These rums can either be left un-aged or slightly aged in charred oak barrels.

A major producer of the French liqueur pastis, an anise-flavored liqueur. A successor of Absinthe, it was produced under that moniker until it was banned in france in the early 1900s. Henri Pernod, then focused its efforts on the lower-alcohol, wormwoodless, anise-flavored Pernod.

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

Aromatic plants used in cocktails as a garnish or muddled into the liquor to add a light fresh taste. Common in the Mint Julep.