Limes
Juice & mixers · usually a modifier · in 21 cocktails here
What it is
As with lemons, fresh only. Limes give less juice than they look like they will — reckon on 25–30ml each.
What it tastes like
Sharper and more aromatic than lemon, with a faint bitterness in the oils that lemon does not have.
What it does in a drink
Souring agent, and the sharper of the two — it stands up to rum, tequila and cachaça where lemon would be lost.
Cocktails with limes
Unlocks 21 recipes on Drinki.
Best known
- Caipirinha IBA Muddle the lime with sugar in the glass. No shaker required.
- Cuba Libre IBA Rum and coke plus lime, which is the entire difference.
- Daiquiri IBA Rum, lime, sugar. Nothing else, and nothing missing.
- Dark ’n’ Stormy IBA Float the rum so the first sip is a storm cloud.
- Margarita IBA Salt on half the rim, so you get a choice with every sip.
- Moscow Mule IBA Copper mug optional. Cold ginger beer is not.
- Tommy’s Margarita IBA Agave instead of orange liqueur — cleaner, and the tequila actually speaks.
- Cosmopolitan IBA Unfairly maligned. Made properly it is a very good drink.
- Last Word IBA Four equal parts that should not work together, and absolutely do.
- Paloma IBA What Mexico actually drinks while tourists queue for margaritas.
- Southside IBA Gin, lime, sugar and mint, shaken and served straight up.
- Mai Tai IBA No pineapple juice. The real one is rum, lime, orange and almond.
- Mojito IBA Press the mint, do not shred it. Bruised mint tastes like a lawn.
- Planter’s Punch IBA One of sour, two of sweet, three of strong, four of weak.
- Gimlet Sharper and colder than you remember.
- Ginger Lime Cooler The one to hand someone who is driving.
- Shirley Temple Named after the actor, who reportedly hated it.
- El Diablo Tequila and cassis is a stranger pairing than it has any right to be.
- Mezcal Margarita Same shape as a margarita, twice the personality.
- Virgin Mojito All of the ritual, none of the rum.
- Pornstar Martini Britain’s most-ordered cocktail. The prosecco goes beside it, not in it.
What it pairs with
The ingredients that turn up alongside limes far more often than chance would predict.
- Ginger beer Moscow Mule, Dark ’n’ Stormy, El Diablo, Ginger Lime Cooler
- Fresh mint Mojito, Southside, Virgin Mojito, Ginger Lime Cooler
- Dark rum Dark ’n’ Stormy, Mai Tai, Planter’s Punch What dark rum and lime make together →
- White rum Daiquiri, Mojito, Mai Tai, Cuba Libre What white rum and lime make together →
Substitutes
Nothing substitutes for limes convincingly.