Lemon Lime and Bitters
Build ∙ 2 min ∙ 0.5% ABV ∙
Lemon Lime and Bitters is an Australian non-alcoholic highball of lemonade, fresh lime juice and aromatic bitters, built over ice and served with a straw. Fizzy and tart at first sip, it turns warmly spiced as the bitters drift down, the straw letting you tune each sip's balance yourself.
Ingredients
1
Servings
Garnish
Instructions for 1 serving
- Pre-chill a glass
- Pour into the ice-filled glass: Lime juice 15 ml and Lemonade 150 ml
- Briefly stir
- Angostura aromatic bitters 4 dashes onto the surface of the drink and serve with a straw so the drinker can stir in the bitters
- Garnish with a lime wedge
Tips
- Pour the bitters onto the surface rather than stirring them in — they sit as a bitter layer the drinker mixes in sip by sip.
- Only stir briefly after adding the lime and lemonade — a longer stir flattens the lemonade's fizz before the bitters even go in.
- Pre-chill the glass before building so the ice doesn't melt fast and dilute the lemonade's fizz.
History
Lemon, Lime and Bitters is a non-alcoholic Australian drink made by combining lemonade, lime (juice or cordial), and Angostura-style bitters. Its exact origin is undocumented, but drink historians trace it to a mid-19th-century predecessor called lemonade and bitters, a home remedy noted in Australia as early as the 1870s, to which lime was added at some later point, reportedly as late as the 1980s, without the resulting drink ever gaining a distinct name of its own. The combination became closely associated with golf clubs in Australia and New Zealand, where it was long served as the non-alcoholic counterpart to Pink Gin, and it is now popularly regarded as Australia's unofficial national soft drink.
The format follows the Collins, the family of tall drinks built from a spirit, citrus, sugar, and soda, whose own origin is disputed among several claimants; Lemon, Lime and Bitters simply drops the base spirit, replacing it with extra lemonade and lime, so that the bitters alone supply its faint trace of alcohol.
FAQ
How do you make a Lemon Lime and Bitters cocktail?
Pour fresh lime juice and lemonade into an ice-filled glass and stir briefly, then dash aromatic bitters onto the surface and serve with a straw and a lime wedge so the drinker stirs the bitters in themselves. It is built directly in the glass, not shaken or mixed ahead, and stays non-alcoholic throughout at roughly 0.5% ABV from the bitters alone.
What is in a Lemon Lime and Bitters?
Lemonade, fresh lime juice, and a few dashes of Angostura aromatic bitters, built over ice and garnished with a lime wedge. It contains no spirit, making it essentially a non-alcoholic drink at around 0.5% ABV.
What alcohol goes best with Lemon Lime and Bitters?
As served, this drink has no added spirit and is built to stand alone as a non-alcoholic pour. If you want an alcoholic version, a measure of vodka, gin, or white rum works well, since their neutral or citrus-forward character does not fight the lime juice.
Is Lemon Lime and Bitters a healthy drink?
It is a relatively light choice at about 64 calories per serving, and it is vegan, vegetarian, and lactose-free. It is not alcohol-free in the strictest sense, since the bitters bring it to roughly 0.5% ABV, but it is far lower in sugar and alcohol than most mixed drinks.
Will bitters get you drunk?
Not from the small amount used here. A few dashes of Angostura bitters add only trace alcohol, leaving the finished drink at about 0.5% ABV, which is far below the threshold to cause intoxication even after several glasses.
What is the best ratio for Lemon Lime and Bitters?
This build uses a small amount of fresh lime juice topped up with a much larger volume of lemonade, finished with a few dashes of bitters on top. The lime should stay in the background as a sour accent rather than competing with the lemonade's sweetness.