Cocktails with Lemon juice
Lemon juice is the fresh-squeezed juice of the lemon, the high-acid citrus that sours most classic cocktails.
How it's used
The default souring agent in a shaken drink. One lemon gives 30 to 45 ml, depending on size.
Substitutes for Lemon juice
The best substitute, in the same amount. It has about the same acid, but the drink turns sharper, with a faint bitterness. If it is too tart, add a barspoon of syrup and taste. The difference shows most where lemon leads, and barely shows in a punch.
Bottled lemon juice
The fallback, again one for one. It has 20–30% less acid and a flatter aroma. If the juice is sweetened, less syrup is needed.
Orange and grapefruit juice
Will not work: grapefruit has about half the acid, orange a fifth or less.
Storage
Squeeze to order. Sealed and refrigerated, the juice keeps its acidity far longer than its aroma. A day-old sour tastes flat long before it tastes wrong. Whole lemons keep best a little warmer than a home fridge, in humid air. Dry, hard, shriveled fruit has lost moisture.
