Company Buck

These rich rums get their dark color from added caramel, not necessarily aging. Flavors are caramel and brown-sugar forward. Common examples are Meyers's and Coruba (Jamaican) or Gosling's Black Seal (Bermuda). A key ingredient in many classic tiki-era cocktails.

A tropical fruit, used in many tropical cocktails for its sweet flavor and yellow color. You can either juice a real pineapple, buy pineapple canned in juice (not syrup) or buy pineapple juice in a container.

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 syrup with ginger root flavoring. Make it yourself: Combine 120mL fresh ginger juice, 100g superfine sugar (about 2:1.5 by mass). Or you can also boil some ginger slices in a simple syrup mixture. We always assume a 1:1 syrup unless otherwise noted in the recipe itself.

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

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.

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).