It’s Mixology Monday time again! This month’s theme comes courtesy of DJ Hawaiian Shirt of the Spirited Remix blog (bonus points for the snazzy MxMo logo). This month it’s orange juice, sometimes overlooked, often maligned, but does wonders in a cocktail when used properly. We love orange juice in cocktails and some of our favorite drinks use it. Read on to see which one we picked for this post.

As our illustrious MxMo torch bearer mentioned in his announcement the Blood & Sand, Monkey Gland and the Fog Cutter are all excellent drinks. (Though we must admit that we prefer our Sun Break over the Fog Cutter). We’re also partial to our own Peruvian Disco as well. 😉 But two of our all time favorite orange juice cocktails and just all around favorite cocktails in general are the Munich Sour and the Eastern Sour. They use similar ingredients in slightly different proportions, but have quite divergent flavor profiles.

Both of these cocktails mix orange juice and orgeat, so we were curious if there was a connection here that explains why the orange works so well in these drinks. We decided to taste just orgeat and orange juice mixed together, and lo and behold they complement each quite nicely. The almond provides a little richness and creaminess that creates a base note underpinning the freshness of the orange, and something about the orange – maybe the touch of oil from the peel? – really pulls out the flower waters in the orgeat (we use the Kaiser Penguin recipe, which calls for both orange flower and rose waters) for a gentle floral touch. We see both of these qualities come through in the drinks as well, and they seem to help integrate the orange with the rich/sweet flavors of the aged base spirits.

We decided to highlight the Eastern Sour today because we haven’t mentioned it before, it’s rare that you see bourbon-based tiki cocktails, and it’s delicious in it’s own right.

Eastern Sour

• 2 oz bourbon
• 1 1/2 oz fresh orange juice
• 1 oz lime juice
• 1/4 oz orgeat
• 1/4 oz simple syrup

Shake with ice. Strain into a glass. Enjoy!

• Nose: Orange, lime, sweet vanilla-y barrel notes, toasted corn. Yum!
• Palate: Starts with strong orange, almond and a hint of rose and orange flower water. Mid-palate is toasty corn, red fruit and barrel notes. Lime peel speaks up at the end of the mid-palate and into the finish, which is floral orange and almond like the intro, but slightly more bitter. It’s a cocktail palindrome! Lime provides a good acid structure throughout the drink.

So there you have it! Orange juice, it’s not just for breakfast anymore. Though there’s nothing wrong with a nice mimosa. 😀 Thanks to Mr. Hawaiian Shirt for choosing a wonderful theme and thanks as always to Fred for keeping the party going. Looking forward to what others come up with. And if you are interested browse our archives for other uses of orange juice.

Update: Round up is live! Go check out some of the great entries for this month.