An almond syrup made with orange flower water, used as the sweetening and almond backbone of a Mai Tai and several other tiki cocktails. Real orgeat tastes distinctly of almond, not just generically sweet.

What is falernum made of?

Lime, ginger, clove, and almond, from the English Caribbean tradition centered on Barbados. It comes as a non-alcoholic syrup or as an alcoholic liqueur around 11% ABV; John D. Taylor's Velvet Falernum, made since the 1890s, is the historic reference bottling.

What is allspice dram?

Rum infused with allspice berries — also called pimento dram, from the Jamaican name for the berry. A dash adds warm baking-spice depth to dark-rum cocktails. St. Elizabeth is the common modern bottling.

Is grenadine actually made from pomegranate?

It's supposed to be — grenadine comes from grenade, French for pomegranate. Most grenadine sold in mainstream liquor and grocery stores today is high-fructose corn syrup, red dye, and artificial flavoring with no pomegranate at all. Real grenadine, pomegranate juice reduced with sugar, tastes noticeably tarter and less candy-sweet.

What's the difference between falernum syrup and falernum liqueur?

Syrup is non-alcoholic and purely a sweetener-and-flavor ingredient. Liqueur (like John D. Taylor's Velvet Falernum) carries roughly 11% ABV and contributes a bit of its own alcoholic backbone in addition to the lime-ginger-clove flavor. Recipes calling for "falernum" without specifying usually mean the liqueur.

Can I substitute simple syrup for orgeat?

You can, but the drink will lose the almond character orgeat is specifically providing — simple syrup only replaces the sweetness, not the flavor. A few drops of almond extract stirred into simple syrup gets meaningfully closer in a pinch.

The Library · Reference · 21+

Tiki ingredients 101: orgeat, falernum, and the rest of the pantry

Recipes in The Canon keep calling for the same handful of unfamiliar bottles — orgeat, falernum, allspice dram — without explaining what any of them actually are. Here's the pantry.

None of this is exotic in the way the finished drinks are. Most of it is just old Caribbean and French bar tradition that fell out of general use everywhere except tiki.

Why tiki keeps its own pantry

Most classic cocktails run on spirit, citrus, and sugar. Tiki, as built by Donn Beach and refined by Trader Vic, runs on spirit, citrus, and a small stable of specialty syrups and liqueurs that each add one specific thing — almond, warm spice, ginger heat, orange bitterness — that plain sugar can’t. Learn five or six of them and most of The Canon opens up at once.

The syrups

Orgeat

or-zsaht

An almond syrup built with orange flower water, the backbone of the Mai Tai. The name comes from the French orge, barley — early versions were sometimes barley-based before almond became standard.

Demerara syrup

duh-mer-AIR-uh

Demerara sugar and water, usually 2:1 rather than simple syrup's 1:1, for a darker, more molasses-forward sweetness. Non-negotiable in a proper Navy Grog or Zombie.

Cinnamon syrup

Simple syrup infused with cracked cinnamon bark, not cinnamon extract or ground spice. Adds warmth without turning a drink into dessert. Central to the 1934 Zombie spec.

Passion fruit syrup

Sweetened passion fruit purée or juice. Tart, floral, and the ingredient most responsible for a Hurricane or a Zombie tasting distinctly tropical rather than just citrus-forward.

Grenadine

Properly, pomegranate juice reduced with sugar. See “Real versus fake” below — almost nothing sold under this name on a mainstream shelf actually contains pomegranate.

The liqueurs

These carry their own alcohol, unlike the syrups above — measure them as part of the drink’s total volume, not as a free-pour flavoring.

Falernum

A lime, ginger, clove, and almond cordial from the English Caribbean, most associated with Barbados. Comes in two forms: a non-alcoholic syrup, and an alcoholic liqueur around 11% ABV — John D. Taylor's Velvet Falernum, sold since the 1890s, is the historic benchmark for the latter. Essential to a Navy Grog or a Corn 'n Oil.

Allspice dram

Also called pimento dram: rum infused with allspice berries (pimento), a Jamaican tradition. St. Elizabeth is the widely available modern bottling. A dash adds baking-spice depth — clove, nutmeg, and pepper in one berry — to almost anything built on dark rum.

Orange curaçao

An orange liqueur traditionally made from the dried peel of the laraha citrus grown on the island of Curaçao. "Dry" curaçao is closer to a true triple sec; blue curaçao is the identical base spirit simply dyed for color, not a different flavor.

Real versus fake

Here’s the thing most bar carts don’t advertise: the orgeat, falernum, and grenadine sold on a typical liquor-store shelf are frequently high-fructose corn syrup, artificial almond or lime flavoring, and red dye — with none of the ingredient actually in the name.

It matters for the same reason it matters with rum: every spec is balanced assuming the ingredient tastes like what it claims to be. A Mai Tai made with fake orgeat isn’t a worse Mai Tai so much as a different, blander drink wearing the name.

What to check

Read the ingredient list. Real orgeat lists almonds; real grenadine lists pomegranate juice. If sugar or corn syrup is the first ingredient and the thing it’s named for doesn’t appear at all, it’s a flavoring, not the real product.

If you don't have it

Emergency swaps, in rough order of how close they land:

No orgeat: simple syrup plus a few drops of almond extract, and orange flower water if you happen to have it.
No falernum: a ginger syrup with a squeeze of lime and a dash of allspice or clove bitters gets close in a pinch.
No allspice dram: a dash of allspice (or Angostura) bitters stirred into plain demerara syrup.
No demerara syrup: plain simple syrup works; the drink will just read a touch lighter and less molasses-forward.

Questions people actually ask

What is orgeat?: An almond syrup made with orange flower water, used as the sweetening and almond backbone of a Mai Tai and several other tiki cocktails. Real orgeat tastes distinctly of almond, not just generically sweet.
What is falernum made of?: Lime, ginger, clove, and almond, from the English Caribbean tradition centered on Barbados. It comes as a non-alcoholic syrup or as an alcoholic liqueur around 11% ABV; John D. Taylor's Velvet Falernum, made since the 1890s, is the historic reference bottling.
What is allspice dram?: Rum infused with allspice berries — also called pimento dram, from the Jamaican name for the berry. A dash adds warm baking-spice depth to dark-rum cocktails. St. Elizabeth is the common modern bottling.
Is grenadine actually made from pomegranate?: It's supposed to be — grenadine comes from grenade, French for pomegranate. Most grenadine sold in mainstream liquor and grocery stores today is high-fructose corn syrup, red dye, and artificial flavoring with no pomegranate at all. Real grenadine, pomegranate juice reduced with sugar, tastes noticeably tarter and less candy-sweet.
What's the difference between falernum syrup and falernum liqueur?: Syrup is non-alcoholic and purely a sweetener-and-flavor ingredient. Liqueur (like John D. Taylor's Velvet Falernum) carries roughly 11% ABV and contributes a bit of its own alcoholic backbone in addition to the lime-ginger-clove flavor. Recipes calling for "falernum" without specifying usually mean the liqueur.
Can I substitute simple syrup for orgeat?: You can, but the drink will lose the almond character orgeat is specifically providing — simple syrup only replaces the sweetness, not the flavor. A few drops of almond extract stirred into simple syrup gets meaningfully closer in a pinch.

No affiliation with any producer named here — nothing in this pantry is a paid placement. Strictly 21+; please drink responsibly.

Who wrote this, and why

Rum & Thatch is a free tiki social club in Northeast Florida — monthly Mixers at real tiki bars, Driftwood Socials on the sand, and Ember Nights at cigar lounges across Jacksonville, Ponte Vedra Beach, and St. Augustine. We keep this library because the scene deserves a straight answer in one place. Free to join, no invite, strictly 21+.

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