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A brandy produced in the wine-region surrounding Cognac, France. Cognac must be twice distilled and aged for at least two years in French oak.

A rum aged in charred oak barrels that lend their color to the rum. If a recipe calls for this rum it is likely refuring to a darker colored rum with a rich and strong yet smooth flavor. Common varieties come from Jamaica and Haiti.

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.

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.

The butterfat layer skimmed from the top of milk before homogenization, contains more than 35% milk fat. Also called single/double cream and whipping cream, although these may also add thickening agents making them less useful for mixing in cocktails. This is used as a foaming agent and for fat-washing in cocktails.

You know what eggs are. In cocktails, eggs are used for their foaming properties, giving the drink a rich and creamy texture. The eggs proteins form a 'net' that traps air and liquid extremely well; for this reason, drinks that contain eggs are shaken. They are also used for egg washing, a type of booze washing. Some cocktails use only the egg white (fizzes) and some use the whole egg or only the yolk (flips). There are common non-egg substitutes out there, check out insta-foam