How To: Make an Acid Solution

This super easy hack is an incredible tool for controlling brightness and balance in cocktails.

When developing new recipes, sometimes you’ll come up with a drink that’s almost there, but not quite. Without noticeably changing the recipe’s volume or flavor profile, a fewer dashes or drops of an acid solution can provide the kick of sour that you need.

It’s also remarkably easy and easily tweaked for your needs.

What is an Acid Solution for Cocktails?

If you’ve ever used lemon or lime juice in a cocktail, you understand the role of acids in drink-making. Here, instead of employing juiced citrus, you’ll be using isolates of two naturally occurring acids in a water solution.

When making a standard sour, your 3/4 oz of fresh citrus juice contains a range of acids—In lemons, the most prominent is Citric (around 6%), followed by Malic (~5%), Ascorbic, and others. This PDF from the Royal Society of Chemistry helps visualize it, and if you want to get really nerdy, please explore this scientific paper on how pH levels in lemons change with their size.

Why does this matter? Well, because “lemon juice” isn’t just one thing – it’s a complex, organic ingredient with inherent variability. Making your own acid solution allows you to create a consistent and controlled ingredient, not necessarily as a replacement to fresh citrus juice, but as a way to complement recipes.

What are Citric and Malic Acid?

Citric Acid is the main acid found in lemon and lime juice, but it exists in a wide range of fruits and vegetables. It adds a straightforward sour or acidic taste, and though it has a wide range of culinary and beverage applications, this is the main reason we’re using it here. You can find powdered Citric Acid at most culinary supply stores or order it directly from purveyors like Modernist Pantry, where 400 grams will set you back about $13.

Malic Acid is another key component found in commonly used cocktail citrus, but it’s most associated with the crisp, cheek-clasping tang you know from apples (where it’s found in large supply in the skin). Because of its range of food and drink applications, you should be able to source it the same way you would Citric Acid—you should be able to source it locally or by mail from purveyors like Modernist Pantry.

Making Your Own Acid Solutions

Below are two recipes that highlight the versatility of adding acids to your bartender toolkit:

First up is a basic Acid Solution, perfect for zhooshing recipes that need a little wake up call. Next is the Apple Branch, a delicious Bourbon and spiced apple cocktail which is balanced with acidified Grand Marnier.

Basic Acid Solution Recipe

Ingredients

• 85 grams Water
• 10 grams Citric Acid
• 5 grams Malic Acid

Instructions

• Stir until dissolved and store in a non-reactive container.
• Use with dropper or dasher as develop understanding of its impact.
• This is a template recipe that’s meant for tweaking! Explore what works for your drinks.

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Grand Boom Juice

(specs below are for a 100ml batch; recipe is scalable)

Ingredients

• 50 ml Water
• 50 ml Grand Marnier Cordon Rouge
• 4 grams Citric Acid
• 2 grams Malic Acid

Instructions

• Stir until dissolved and store in a non-reactive container.

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Apple Branch

Ingredients

• 1.5 oz Longbranch Bourbon
• .75 oz Grand Boom Juice (recipe above)
• .75 oz Fuji Apple Syrup**
• 1 barspoon Allspice Dram

Instructions

• Add all ingredients to a mixing glass and stir with ice.
• Strain into a chilled Nick & Nora glass.
• Garnish with a de-seeded apple wheel.

**Fuji Apple Syrup

• Combine equal part Superfine Sugar and Cold Pressed Fuji Apple Juice. Store refrigerated.

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Check out other great How To recipes:

• Ferment Your Own Sodas
• Homemade Cocktail Cherries
• Make Aperol Caviar
• Make This Verdita for a Very Green Margarita
• Five Spice Falernum