What Citrus Fruit Juice Goes Best In Cocktails?

Blending citrus fruit juice with libations and spirits is an age-old idea that never goes out of style. In fact, in recent years the fruit juice-based cocktail has actually surged in popularity as a weight- and health-conscious public turns to fruit juices over calorie rich soft drinks and other mixers in order to have a healthier good time.

Most fresh citrus juices are available mixed with vodka, rum, gin, and tequila. Many varieties of fruit cocktail, for example the Madras, blends two or more fruit juices together. Others blend fruit juice with a richly sweet mixer alternately called Collins’ Mix or lemon sour mix. This high-sugar, high-calorie mixing drink forms the flavor bases for scores of cocktails, including perhaps most famously the Long Island Iced Tea but also many others. Obviously, some fresh citrus fruit juices go better with some types of liquor. Of the four main kinds of clear liquor listed above, probably rum and vodka are the most versatile in terms of mixing with fresh citrus fruit juices.

Vodka Cocktails

The Screwdriver, for example, is among the simplest of cocktails, mixing any variety of vodka with orange juice. It’s best served chilled, in a rocks glass but also sometimes in an ice tea glass as well.

The Greyhound is a simple mixture of vodka and grapefruit juice, served in the same manner as a screwdriver. Greyhounds are not as popular a cocktail as they were in the past, but still offer an interesting diversion for those who prefer a less sweet taste than the taste of orange juice.

Mixing two of the most popular liquor mixed drink flavors together, the Madras cocktail includes vodka with orange and cranberry juices, served in a rocks glass. Similarly, a Sea Breeze mixes grapefruit juice with cranberry juice. Both cocktails are garnished with a wedge of lime.

Rum Drinks

Some of the more popular current cocktails include drinks that mix coconut-flavored rum with fresh citrus juices. A coconut rum and pineapple mix, for example, often called simply a Malibu Pineapple, makes a great treat on a hot summer day. A recent entry into the list of mixed rum drinks, recently rum mixed with orange juice has also found a new popularity.

Gin and Tequila

Gin mixes well with orange juice, while tequila mixed with orange juice and a dash of cherry syrup creates the romantic and mysterious Tequila Sunrise cocktail.

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