Cocktails with Cola
Cola is a sweetened, carbonated soft drink flavoured to a characteristic spiced "cola" profile and usually caffeinated.
Taste profile
Sweet and spiced, with a warm vanilla-and-cinnamon aroma over a tart, phosphoric-acid edge and a light citrus lift.
How it's used
Poured to lengthen and sweeten a base spirit in a built highball, it contributes bulk, effervescence, sweetness and its signature caramel colour; a small splash can also be used to tint and sweeten without filling the glass.
Substitutes for Cola
As a full-length mixer cola is hard to replace, since its compounded spice aroma and brown caramel colour define the drink; another sweet carbonated mixer such as ginger ale supplies comparable sweetness, fizz and diluting bulk but trades the cola spice and colour for its own character.
Description
Cola takes its name from the kola nut and coca leaf that originally supplied its flavour, though modern versions generally build the profile from a blend of flavourings such as vanilla, cinnamon and citrus oils. It is coloured brown with caramel colouring, sweetened with sugar, high-fructose corn syrup or non-nutritive sweeteners, and acidified characteristically with phosphoric acid; most colas are caffeinated, though caffeine-free versions exist.
