Orange Juice… the Most Versatile Cocktail Mixer of All Time

Orange juice is the most popular fruit juice in the world. There is no surprise that its fruity, bright citrus flavor, often called the “taste of sunshine,” has traveled beyond the breakfast table to become the base of so may cocktail recipes.

Orange juice goes amazingly well with every liquor in the speed rack. If you know your customer’s liquor preference, add orange juice and you have a simple cocktail or the foundation on which to build a complex cocktail experience. Look to your premium liqueurs and liquors, such as flavored vodka, and the orange juice cocktail possibilities are endless.

Mix orange juice with champagne for a mimosa, with Belgian-style ale and you have a beermosa, with wine and fruit and you have the beginning of most sangria recipes.

How to Make Orange Juice the Star of the Cocktail

Fresh naval oranges are available year round and relatively inexpensive, making them a great choice to keep on hand all year long for handcrafted cocktails. For an upscale twist in winter, try seasonal blood oranges, tangelos or mandarins such as clementines as a less acidic, sweeter alternative.

The real key to offering your customers the most delectable, refreshing orange juice cocktails is using fresh-squeezed juice. Most commercially prepared orange juice goes through a pasteurization and deaeration process that removes so much of the orange flavor that it necessitates the addition of proprietary “flavor packs” to make it taste like orange juice again.

Juice on demand behind the bar with the JUC-100 Compact Citrus Juicer, or use the JUC-200 High Output Citrus Juicer to produce gallons of juice for special event punches or mimosas for Sunday brunches! Both juicers come with three sizes of juicing cones for juicing any size of orange, grapefruit, limes and lemons.

2019 Cocktail Trends

In 2019, industry professionals forecast cocktails will see a return to simplicity and the use of seasonal fresh produce, along with CBD, teas and florals. Whatever cocktail trends emerge in 2019, fresh will always be on trend. Nothing says fresh better than fresh-squeezed juice.