Almond Syrup

At the grocery store I happened upon a bottle of Orzata almond syrup (by Ferrara), and I did a double take because I’ve come across a lot of, or at least a few, cocktail recipes that featured orgeat (and not just a mai tai, which doesn’t sound particularly appealing), so I put it in the cart and googled it when I got home. It seems to be the same stuff.

Tonight we found a recipe using rye (by request): something called a Pioneer Spirit that a New York-based bar created: eight parts rye, four parts Applejack, two dashes Angostura bitters and a bar spoon of orgeat. I sort of know what a bar spoon is but not really, and the recipe parenthetically notes it’s “.8 ounce,” which I don’t think is right: I kept seeing it was a teaspoon. Anyway, so I used a teaspoon. The drink is good: if you want to taste rye, you will taste it. The almond flavor is just an accent, making me wonder if they actually did mean .8 ounce (still seems like a lot). Anyway, I think it’s all tweakable, and a good start for almond syrup.

These two drinks sound like they could be promising: the Trinidad Sour and these versions of the Japanese Cocktail (and there’s a point where both links basically overlap, with one using Fernet Branca and the other Triple Sec).