Cocktails with Lemon-lime soda
Lemon-lime soda is a clear, sweet carbonated soft drink flavored with lemon and lime.
How it's used
It sweetens, adds a little acid and lengthens with gas, which is why many highballs need nothing else. Count it as part of the drink's sugar: if the recipe also has syrup, it needs less. Pour it last, down a bar spoon into a cold glass, since gas escapes quickly from warm liquid.
Substitutes for Lemon-lime soda
Another lemon-lime soda
Brands differ mostly in sugar. US versions carry about 10.7 g per 100 ml, while UK ones have less than half that plus artificial sweeteners. Swap in the same amount and taste.
Lemonade (British and Australian usage)
In Britain and Australia, a clear, fizzy lemon soft drink. It swaps straight in.
Soda water with lemon and lime juice
A close stand-in when there is no soda at all. For US-style sweetness, add 2 to 3 barspoons of 2:1 syrup per 100 ml.
Bitter lemon
Lemon soda with quinine, so it adds bitterness. It swaps in only where the drink can take it.
Storage
Keep it sealed and cold, and use it soon after opening. A big bottle left open overnight is noticeably flat by morning. Drinkers register a soda as flat after it loses only about 15% of its gas. Flat soda leaves a highball sweet and without lift.
