I, Natalie, love coming up with my own recipes and twists on classic cocktails. Knowing the classics and having some solid recipes up your sleeves is important and always comes in handy. I’m so excited to be able to share more recipes with you all for some of my favorite classics. The Army & Navy cocktail has always been a favorite of mine and it’s from one of the first cocktail books I ever read, The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks by David Embury. The Army & Navy cocktail is perfect for spring weather and is only a few ingredients. Let’s get shaking!
Army & Navy Cocktail
2 ounces gin
3/4 ounces lemon juice
3/4 ounces orgeat
a few dashes of Angostura bitters, for garnish
Luxardo cherry, for garnish
The most difficult thing about this cocktail is making the orgeat. Orgeat is an almond syrup made with almond milk. You can make orgeat by making almond milk in a blender like I did in this post. This time around, I made almond milk with my Hurom Slow Juicer and it was incredibly easy.
In a bowl, soak 1 cup of almonds in a bowl of water overnight or for 6-8 hours. This makes the nuts softer for optimal juicing. I recommend juicing 1 cup of almonds to make 1 cup of almond milk. Pour out the water and rinse the almonds. Add back 1 cup of fresh water into the bowl. Turn on your slow juicer and use a measuring cup to spoon in almonds and water (equal parts) into the juicer. Keep adding until you’ve put in all the almonds and water. Let the almond milk flow out of the spout. Measure your almond milk (you should have 8 ounces) then add 2x the amount of sugar (I used demerara sugar). Orgeat should be 2:1 sugar to almond milk. After your syrup is made, you can add 1/4 teaspoon almond extract and a few dashes of orange blossom water for extra flavor.
After the orgeat syrup is made, you can make an Army & Navy cocktail. Add all ingredients to a cocktail shaker, fill completely with ice and shake vigorously. Strain into a coupe glass and garnish with a Luxardo cherry and a few dashes of Angostura bitters.
Orgeat is pretty viscus, so shaking hard will yield a decent head on top of the cocktail, similar to using egg white. I used a dropper to be more precise when adding my bitters and then pulled a toothpick through it to make a design. You can use this same method to make designs with bitters on egg white cocktails too.
The Army & Navy cocktail is citrusy, slightly sweet, and deliciously fragrant. Making orgeat is a little bit of work but once you get the hang of it, it’s quite easy and so worth it. If you don’t want to make your own orgeat, although I highly recommend doing so, another option is buying store-bought orgeat like this one. I hope you will give this Army & Navy cocktail a try and let us know what you think. What’s your favorite classic cocktail to make at home? xo Natalie
Army & Navy Cocktail
- 2 ounces gin
- 3/4 ounces lemon juice
- 3/4 ounces orgeat
- a few dashes of Angostura bitters
for garnish - Luxardo cherry for garnish
-
In a bowl, soak 1 cup of almonds in a bowl of water overnight or for 6-8 hours. This makes the nuts softer for optimal juicing. I recommend juicing 1 cup of almonds to make 1 cup of almond milk. Pour out the water and rinse the almonds. Add back 1 cup of fresh water into the bowl.
Turn on your slow juicer and use a measuring cup to spoon in almonds and water (equal parts) into the juicer. Keep adding until you’ve put in all the almonds and water. Let the almond milk flow out of the spout. Measure your almond milk (you should have 8 ounces) then add 2x the amount of sugar (I used demerara sugar).
Orgeat should be 2:1 sugar to almond milk. After your syrup is made, you can add 1/4 teaspoon almond extract and a few dashes of orange blossom water for extra flavor.
-
After the orgeat syrup is made, you can make an Army & Navy cocktail. Add all ingredients to a cocktail shaker, fill completely with ice and shake vigorously. Strain into a coupe glass and garnish with a Luxardo cherry and a few dashes of Angostura bitters.
Orgeat is pretty viscus, so shaking hard will yield a decent head on top of the cocktail, similar to using egg white. I used a dropper to be more precise when adding my bitters and then pulled a toothpick through it to make a design. You can use this same method to make designs with bitters on egg white cocktails too.
