What is Orgeat Syrup?

Orgeat is a sweetened almond preparation: historically a barley-and-almond drink, now an almond syrup, often an emulsion of ground almonds, sugar, water, and orange flower water (and sometimes brandy as a preservative). The orange flower water is not optional flavoring in the classic sense; it is part of the aromatic definition.

It is a tiki and sour modifier — Mai Tai, Japanese Cocktail — used in small volume. Falernum is a different, spicier Caribbean syrup (almond, ginger, lime, cloves, often with rum). Amaretto is an alcoholic liqueur, sweeter and more extract-like. Neither is a 1:1 substitute.

Marzipan, orange blossom, and sugar. Well-made orgeat tastes of almonds (benzaldehyde from the nuts, or from apricot kernels in some formulas). Poor commercial orgeat tastes of artificial almond extract. Separation into a cloudy layer and a clearer syrup is normal in products that still contain almond solids.

French orgeat (from orge, barley) is a pre-cocktail product that became a syrup. Mid-20th-century tiki, and Victor Bergeron’s Mai Tai in particular, made the bottle famous in the United States.

A Mai Tai without orgeat is a rum sour with lime and orange liqueur; the almond-and-blossom note is what distinguishes the drink.

Shake or stir the bottle; almond solids settle. Refrigerate after opening. A half-ounce is a substantial dose in a sour; start there or lower. If the syrup has separated, recombine it — that is emulsion physics, not spoilage, unless the smell has turned.

Do not replace orgeat with simple syrup plus almond extract if you can avoid it; you will get sweetness without the body of the emulsion.