The Basics: Orgeat

The Reading & Drinking: Basics series is designed to explain and explore fundamental recipes and tools for making cocktails. This series looks at the often overlooked and highly necessary components for making cocktails, at home or elsewhere!

This Basics will explore Orgeat, a syrup traditionally made with almonds and rose or orange blossom water. The term has expanded to become more of a technique that replaces the almonds with whatever the twist may be. There are orgeats made with other nuts, like walnuts or pistachios, and there are those made with cookies, dried fruits, and red beans & rice.

It’s Or-Zhat Not Or-Zhoe

Surprise, Orgeat is a French syrup that originally called for barley before someone realized that almonds have more flavor and that their oils are just as shelf stable as those of barley. At it’s core, the technique is about extracting the flavor and essence of a food, whether it’s a nut or fruit or processed item. Toasting the food, where applicable, caramelizes any sugars and adds depth to the syrup but it isn’t always necessary especially if you want a light, more subtle flavor.

A good rule of thumb for experimenting with a unique Orgeat is to weigh everything: for every 1oz (28g) of the food you want to extract you should blended with 2.5oz (70g) of hot water and it should yield between 1.5oz to 2oz of liquid that you can then fortify with sugar and spirit for longevity. Weird things will require trial and error (like toast, which is supper absorbent) but it can be done! You’ll want a nut milk bag to make the process easy, because straining through anything else is insanely difficult.

For sweeteners, white sugar is always a good base and a 1:1.5 ratio of milk to sugar is a good place to start. If you’re using something already sweet (say, dried figs with walnuts, or Twinkies) then cut back to 1:0.5 to start. You can always add more sugar. Play around with honey and maple syrup, and keep in mind that those sugars will thin the liquid which isn’t necessarily a bad thing!

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The Orgeat

There are two steps to making a good Orgeat. The first is making the “milk” or “stock.” The second is making a syrup from it.

Toasted Almond Milk

4oz sliced or slivered raw almonds, lightly toasted

9oz Filtered Water, hot

1. Toast the almonds in a medium heat pan, toast for 4 minutes then toss and mix, toast again for 3 minutes then toss, and again for 2 minutes. Always keep an eye on them and pull from the heat when getting too dark.

2. Add the almonds to a blender with the hot water (don’t boil as the blender will explode when you turn it on).

3. Pulse the blender until the almonds are finely chopped, then blend for about a minute. Let set for 10 minutes to soak.

4. Strain through a nut milk bag, reserving the liquid for orgeat or use in any other recipe calling for Almond Milk (overnight oats?). The grounds are basically almond meal and can be used in cookies, on oats, or to feed animals that can safely consume nuts.

Orgeat Syrup

8oz Toasted Almond Milk*

12oz White Sugar

0.75oz Cognac (Optional)

0.75oz Amaretto (Optional)

0.125oz (1/4tsp) Rose or Orange Blossom Water

1. Add sugar and almond milk to a pan and heat over medium until sugar is dissolved—DO NOT BOIL.

2. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

3. Add cognac, amaretto, and Rose/Orange Blossom water. Refrigerate for a month; it will often last much, much longer because of the fat and optional alcohol content.

*Note: You can also use store-bought almond milk but the flavor is less intense, will lack the toasted taste, and the “milk” will lack a lot of the creaminess from the fat that comes from making your own but it will do in a pinch, and is, without question, easier.

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You Can Drink

This Orgeat

You’ve done it. Toasted the almonds, pureed them, and squeezed the life from them to make a thick, pearlescent syrup, but now what? Into what brave potion does this rarefied reagent belong? Well, a Mai Tai, for certain.

Cocktail: Mai Kinda’ Tai

From the great Tiki wars of the mid 1900s arose many classic cocktails we now love and enjoy, and perhaps the greatest of which is the Mai Tai. Classically made with a blend of rums, orange liqueur, lime, sugar and Orgeat, it’s paradise in a glass. This version, though, is a little different, using rum and bourbon and adding banana liqueur, it’s sure to take you away from the woes of the moment.

Mai Kinda’ Tai

1.25oz Jamaican Rum

0.75oz Bourbon (80-90 proof)

0.5oz Banana Liqueur

0.25oz Orange Liqueur

0.75oz Lime Juice

0.25oz Demerara Syrup (2:1)

0.25oz Orgeat

1. Add all ingredients to a shaker with ice and shake for 13-18 seconds.

2. “Ugly pour” the contents into a glass, ice and all, then garnish with mint and a spent lime hull.

Cocktail: Lunch Box Old Fashioned

An Old Fashioned that uses a Trail Mix Orgeat and a Grape Juice Syrup, this cocktail is bound to remind you of peanut butter & jelly sandwiches. In a good way.

Lunch Box Old Fashioned

2oz Bourbon (wheated)

0.5oz Trail Mix Orgeat*

0.5oz Grape Syrup**

2 dashes Toasted Almond Bitters

1. Add all ingredients to a mixing tin, then add ice; stir for 40-60 turns.

2. Strain into a glass over a large ice cube and express a lemon peel over the top.

*Note: Instead of almonds use trail mix (mine had mixed nuts and raisins, but don’t be afraid of M&Ms or banana chips). Also add 1/4tsp Kosher salt, use brown sugar, and do not add Cognac, Amaretto, or Orange Blossom water.

**Note: I used grape juice and white sugar, 1:2.