Maggiore

It is, at 0% ABV. The Maggiore is one of our own creations rather than a spin on an older classic, so it was built alcohol-free from the start. Novara Aperitivo gives it the bittersweet backbone, a little non-alcoholic gin adds botanical lift, and fresh juices and almond orgeat round it into a tropical sipper with no alcohol and nothing artificial.

Orgeat (say 'or-zhat') is a sweet almond syrup with a soft note of orange flower. It's a staple of tropical and tiki drinks, where it adds body and a nutty, floral sweetness you can't get from plain sugar. In the Maggiore it softens Novara's bitter edge and ties the juices together. You can buy it or make your own. We use an almond orgeat here, and at events we'll sometimes switch to a homemade horchata-orgeat hybrid, which you'll find in the Bartender's Cheat Sheet.

Fresh is best, especially for the lemon and orange, where bottled juice tastes flat and a little cooked next to fresh-squeezed. Pineapple is more forgiving, so a good chilled pineapple juice works well if you'd rather not juice a whole pineapple. The drink leans on bright, fresh citrus to balance Novara and the orgeat, so the fresher the juice, the better it drinks.

It's a small pour, but it does real work. The non-alcoholic gin brings juniper and a botanical lift that keeps the Maggiore from reading as purely sweet and fruity. Novara is still the heart of the drink, with the gin adding just enough structure around it. If you don't have a non-alcoholic gin on hand you can leave it out; you'll lose a touch of complexity but still have a lovely Maggiore.