Name: Aloha
Ingredients: 1/2 oz. Myers's Original Dark Rum; 1/4 oz. dry vermouth; 1/4 oz. Cognac; 1/4 oz. gin; 1/2 oz. lime juice; 1 oz. soda water

Why it works: Vermouth and gin share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 94 recipes mention both. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

The recipe

Ingredients

Directions

Shake with ice cubes.
Strain into large cocktail glass.
Garnish with lime wheel.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

This recipe comes from the Recipes Wiki on Fandom and is licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Our formatting and summaries are shared under the same licence.

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

Vermouth + gintop 1% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together94 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Rum + limetop 5% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together412 recipes

Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).
Gin + limetop 8% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together115 recipes

Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).
Rum + gintop 9% of all pairs

Aroma overlaplow

Mentioned together40 recipes

Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).
Rum + vermouthtop 13% of all pairs

Aroma overlaplow

Mentioned together17 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Lime juice: Adds acidity that brightens the sweetness and spirits in the drink.
Myers's original dark rum: Contributes the main rum flavor and body to the cocktail.
Cognac: Adds brandy richness and aromatic depth to the blend.
Gin: Adds botanical aroma and a dry, crisp note.
Dry vermouth: Adds herbal aroma and lightly dilutes the spirits for balance.

Flavor stand-ins for the lime

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rum, vermouth, gin):

Pineappleabout as good a flavor fit
Limethe original
Orangeabout as good a flavor fit

Fit is the average pairing score against rum, vermouth, gin. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.