Cocktail guide
How to make The Sunset, a long sour with aquafaba
The Sunset feels like a terrace drink from the first read of the spec. Rum, a touch of amaretto, lemon and syrup are shaken short, then the whole thing opens up in the glass with ginger beer and a white head floating above it. With 20 ml of VERY AQUAFABA in place of the egg white, you keep that soft top without changing the shape of the drink. The important part is sequence: build the foam first, lengthen second. Below is the full method, why the ginger beer waits for the glass, and what to check when the head starts disappearing into the drink. Updated: .
What goes in the shaker, and what goes in the glass
- 30 ml rum
- 10 ml amaretto
- 20 ml lemon juice
- 10 ml vanilla and tonka syrup
- 20 ml VERY AQUAFABA, chilled
- Ginger beer to top, in a highball glass
- A few dried flowers for the garnish
Think of the ginger beer as part of the serve, not part of the shake. It only goes in once the drink is in the highball.
How to build it
- Pour the rum, the amaretto, the lemon, the vanilla and tonka syrup and the aquafaba into the shaker.
- Shake hard without ice: the foam is built here.
- Add 8 to 10 ice cubes and shake again to chill.
- Strain into the highball glass.
- Top with ginger beer.
- Scatter a few dried flowers on the head.
Tips for making The Sunset with aquafaba
Build the head before the long part of the drink arrives. Dry shake, shake with ice and strain first; then add the ginger beer in the glass. The sequence mirrors the gin fizz, but the top here is ginger beer rather than tonic.
The amaretto is 10 ml per drink and the vanilla and tonka syrup 10 ml. Those are small pours in one highball, but across a service they add up quickly, so measure both with the jigger and count them in the batch rather than pouring by eye.
Batch the rum, amaretto, lemon and syrup before service. Keep the aquafaba chilled for the shaker and the ginger beer for the glass. That leaves every order with the same sequence: base, aquafaba, two shakes, strain, top. The Sunset process sheet keeps that order on one page.
Fixing a head that sinks into the ginger beer
| What you see | Why | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Thin head before the top goes in | Ice went in before the dry shake | Dry shake first, ice second |
| The head collapses as the ginger beer goes in | The ginger beer went into the shaker | Strain first, then top in the glass |
| A slack foam that rises slowly | The aquafaba was at room temperature | Keep it in the fridge until the shake |
| The head has gone by the time the drink reaches the table | The drink waited on the pass | Shake, top and serve at once |
Sunsets all season, or now and then?
A 1L Tetrapak makes 50 Sunsets and a 10L bag-in-box makes 500. Once opened, liquid stays at 2 to 6 °C and is used within 3 to 4 days, so pick the size from the number you can realistically serve in that period.
For occasional orders, use 1.3g of powder with 20 ml of water per drink. Kept dry and closed, the opened pouch keeps until its best-before date, and the Sunset quantity calculator works out the full service from the number of drinks you expect.
Where to buy VERY AQUAFABA
Please drink responsibly
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