Orgeat Lemonade Soda – Recipe & History

What Does The Orgeat Lemonade Taste Like?

The orgeat lemonade is a fantastic drink. The orgeat syrup adds a sweetness that offsets the tartness of the lemonade and gives it a wonderful nutty cherry flavor. Orgeat lemonade has been popular for almost 200 years and for good reason. It enhances the lemonade and makes for a drink that is more than the sum of its parts.

History Of The Orgeat Lemonade.

The oldest orgeat lemonade recipe I can find comes from the 1862 book “The Bartenders Guide” by Jerry Thomas. Listed as a temperance drink and has both a still water version and a sparking water soda version. Presently the orgeat lemonade is called a mocktail, but in the past, it was simply seen as a drink or soda. I personally hate the term mocktail because it’s clear alcoholics invented it. A Coke without rum is not a mocktail. It’s a soda. A person drinking orange juice is not drinking a mixer. They are drinking orange juice. When your only tool is a hammer, everything looks like a nail, and the term mocktail is an example of that. The oldest reference I found to an orgeat lemonade comes from an 1820 issue of “The Dublin Magazine,” where the author describes how a hotel he stayed at in Paris, France served orgeat lemonades. I wouldn’t be surprised if this drink originated in France, as orgeat (and later grenadine) was wildly popular in France during the 19th century and added to many drinks.

Recipe Resources

• 1862 The Bartenders Guide – Thomas
• 1820 The Dublin Magazine