small hand foods

Gin Fizz Tropical

A fancy silver fizz from Charles H. Baker's 1939 Gentleman’s Companion.

Cocktails’ Best Supporting Ingredient: DIY Orgeat

Orgeat, an almond syrup dating back to the 1300s, has always played second fiddle to traditional cocktail sweeteners. But the old-school ingredient has a distinct personality, and is being renewed…

• story: Kenzi Wilbur
• photo: Daniel Krieger

Orgeat

(n.): A sweet almond-based syrup flavored with orange flower water. French in origin, it is used as a cocktail mixer in many classic drinks, such as the Mai Tai, the…

Why Your Daiquiri Isn’t the Same As Hemingway’s

The founder of Small Hand Foods investigates why the limes America’s bartenders used a century ago are at odds with the citrus we shake with today.

• story: Jennifer Colliau
• photo: Daniel Krieger

Key Lime Daiquiri

Before 1926, the aromatic Key lime was America's common lime, so if you find yourself using an early 20th century cocktail book, your lime-infused drinks may require a bit of…

Grenadine

(n.) Historically made from tart-sweet pomegranate juice and sugar, grenadine is perhaps the most enduring in the category of concentrated fruit syrups that were popular cocktail ingredients in the late…

Mai Tai

The credit for this iconic 1930s drink—whose name is a nod to the Tahitian, “Maita’i,” which means “good”—is usually given to venerable Los Angeles tiki bar Trader Vic’s.