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From the Knowledge Vault

Craft Cocktail Making: Theory and Structure of Acidity

Ward Eight A rye cocktail acidified with citrus.

The dividing line between a cocktail enthusiast and a craft cocktail aficionado is knowledge. Anyone can enjoy a cocktail, and with enough time spent at or behind a bar, attain a good enough working knowledge of brands and flavors of alcohol. Some of these people go on to create a new cocktail, usually starting with a common drink or ratio of spirits to other ingredients and tweaking them to make something pleasant.

Alas, this approach lacks repeatability in creating quality craft cocktails. Craft cocktails are not dump buckets for every neon colored, super sweet liqueur that your distributor is pushing. And they are not made to mask the flavor of alcohol, but to support and sustain it.

Combinations that should work based on the flavors of the components often fail to impress in the glass due to a lack of understanding of those same component's structural elements. Skilled mixologists construct cocktails from some basic building blocks: alcohol, sugar, acidity, and bitterness. A thorough understand of these primary elements can help craft cocktail designers make great drinks with a minimum of waste and trial and error.

Acidity

The cocktail dates back to the earliest parts of the 19th century. The original contained no acidic agents – just a simple mix of spirit, sugar, water, and bitters. But by 1862, Jerry Thomas had entire sections for Sours, Fixes, and Daisies, all of which featured acidity prominently. Certainly, the use of spirit-plus-acidity dates back to the 18th century Punch, which were spirit, water, lemon and sugar, with some other ingredients added for flavoring.

Recent Additions

  • July 3rd — Whiskey, Fernet Branca, Peach bitters, Citron liqueur, Lime juice
  • Teaches of Peaches — Mezcal, Peach liqueur, Lime juice, Simple syrup, Cayenne pepper
  • Sakura Reviver — Gin, Bianco Vermouth, Absinthe, Lemon juice, Sakura liqueur, Simple syrup, Salt Solution
  • Clavo Oxidado — Reposado Tequila, Mezcal, Drambuie, Bitters, Cinnamon syrup
  • Chrome Cosmo — Vodka, Absinthe, Bitters, Lime juice, Grenadine, Simple syrup

Recent Discussion

  • Re Eve's Vacation, 2 days ago Shawn C commented:

    The cocktail itself is brilliant. I used my own pomegranate grenadine syrup (had some particularly dark and intense aryls for this batch) and a fresh lime off the tree. The pomegranate was a great pairing with the fig which can be a bit intense if not properly mated. The Strega provides some slight mint/alpine herbal and bolsters the anise in the Mahia. The bitters provide a slight chili heat to the finish.

  • Re Eve's Vacation, 2 days ago Shawn C commented:

    Curated to list Mahia by Nahmias et Fils as a brand and change ingredient above from "fig" to fig liqueur. Fig liqueur was already listed as an ingredient but with the same specs as a creme de figue (low proof, sweet.) I have modified the listing for fig liqueur to be 80 proof, only moderately sweet, and including some herbal.

  • Re Naked and Famous, 2 days ago mako commented:

    A new classic. I had a variation called Naked and Infamous (a common name) at Protocol in Amherst, MA that subbed Liquore Strega for Yellow Charteuse. Very good a nice option for these relatively Charteuse-starved times.

  • Re The Ticket that Exploded, 5 days ago drinkingandthinking commented:

    I saw the name and immediately knew who created it ;) wonderful smoky aroma but sweet and bitter on the tongue.

  • Re Bourbon Belle, 5 days ago brogie62 commented:

    Reduced bourbon to 2 oz and increased peach liquor to 0.75 as others have suggested.
    Also, altered to bitters to 2 dashes each of peach bitters and cardamom bitters. Might need a little more spice.