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.

Produced and aged at the historic distilleries of Jamaica, these rums are highly regarded for their funky notes of tropical fruit. They are either comprised of a blend of pot and column-still rums (Appleton Estate) or a heavy 100% pot still rum (Smith & Cross, Hampden Estate, Worthy Park, and others).

Produced by moderate aging (3-8 years) of molasses-based rums. Flavor profiles vary: some recipes call for a lighter Spanish-style rum (e.g., from Puerto Rico or Cuba), while others call for a richer rum from Barbados (Mount Gay, Doorly's) or Jamaica (Appleton Signature).

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.