Miles Ahead

A spice from the seed of a native plant found in India and Indonesia. Commonly used as a spice in cooking, and less common in cocktials.

A bitters made from Seville oranges, cardamom, caraway seed, coriander and burnt sugar.

A bitters made from Seville oranges, cardamom, caraway seed, coriander and burnt sugar.

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.

An alcoholic falernum syrup liqueur with ABV between 11-35 ABV; we chose the most common 11%. Falernum is mainly used in tropical drinks but can also be drank by itself. It usually has flavors of almond, ginger, cloves, vanilla, allspice and lime.

A variety of sherry characterized by being darker than fino but lighter than oloroso. It starts as a fino, fortified to approximately 13.5% alcohol with a cap of flor yeast limiting its exposure to the air, however becomes an amontillado when the flor fails to develop adequately or is killed by additional fortification. Without the layer of flor, amontillado must then be fortified to approximately 17.5% alcohol to slow oxidation. The drink is slowly exposed to oxygen through porous American or Canadian oak casks, gaining a darker colour and richer flavour. It is named after the Montilla region of Spanin where it originated in the 18th century, however the name is also used commercially as a simple measure of color to label any sherry lying between a fino and an oloroso.

Also known as bianco vermouth, blanc vermouth or Italian white vermouth, this is a type of sweet vermouth that is colorless (clear) with vanilla forward flavoring.

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.

Also called akvavit this 'water of life; is a flavored spirit that is mostly produced in Scandinavia, since the 15th century. It is a grain or potato spirit base, and can be flavored with many herbs and spices. EU laws dictate it must be mostly flavored by caraway or dill. A common brand of caraway aquavit is Linie. You can actually make this yourself (or something very similar) here is a recipe from the book 'Akvavit' by Rasmus Risum-Urth: Toast in a pan: 2g cardamom, 8g pine nuts, 10g caraway, 1.5g cinnamon bark, 0.5g star anise, 2g pink peppercorns. Add spices to 500ml of vodka and sous vide for 2 hours at 60C (or just let steep for a week). Strain off solids and add 1.5L gin.

A whiskey distilled from a grain mash that contains at least 51% rye, a grass and member of the wheat tribe 'Triticeae.'