HOW TO Garnish a Cocktail with Citrus

Lets review some good go-to citrus garnishes that you can apply to a wide variety of drinks.

  • Before garnishing anything make sure to wash your fruit and remove stickers.

  • The parts of your citrus:

    • Juice/flesh which is acidic and what you’ll typically mix into cocktails.

    • The pith, which is bitter and holds structure.

    • The outer layer, which holds all the oils which are very fragrant.

    • Each of these can be used to your advantage in different situations

The Fruit 🍋🍊

The Swath Garnish

  • A long flat piece of the outer layer that contains aromatic oils.

  • To achieve the swath, use a knife or peeler to the outer layer of the citrus.

  • Expressing the oils over top of your cocktail is as simple as twisting this piece of fruit but make sure the inner pith is facing you when doing so.

  • Then lightly rub the rim and sides of the glass with the outer layer for additional oil coverage.

  • To use as a garnish, clean up the edges with a knife to achieve a parallelogram then fold it into a triangle. Stick with a pick and lay across the top of your glass.

  • Using a flat channel knife is the best way to get long & tight spirals

  • To achieve the spiral, begin at the base or top of the citrus outer layer and begin peeling in a downward rotation to ensure you are using the full lemon.

  • Pull away the loose pith and wrap it around a bar spoon, straw, or twist it with your hands.

  • Lastly, lay it across your drink and let this festive garnish do it’s job! 🎉

The Spiral Garnish 🌀

  • Use caution on this one as it does involve fire/heat.

  • This garnish not only gives your drink a nice toasty note, it’s very impressive-looking when preparing.

  • First cut a large coin out of your citrus outer layer and pith, also known as a “cheek”.

  • Ignite a small piece of wood (like a toothpick) and hold the flame under your citrus coin, this will help loosen up the oils.

  • Then with the flame over your drink, express the oils and you should see them ignite momentarily.

  • Again, use caution when attempting this garnish suggestion.

The Flamed Citrus Garnish 🔥

The Wedge 📐 Vs. The Wheel 🛞

  • A lot of people use these interchangeably but a wedge is easy to squeeze therefore I suggest it with drinks that may require a little extra citrus. This way the drinker of the cocktail can customize to their liking.

  • The wheel on the other hand, is not for squeezing. That said, it is a great visual queue for the drink and provides a small amount of juice flavor if you drop it into your drink. This is ideal for drinks that are not intended to have a significant amount of additional citrus added after the fact.

Tools to Help Garnish Your Cocktails

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