Recipe: Encino Sunset (serves one)
- 4 1/2 oz. orange juice
- 1 1/2 oz. pure cranberry juice
- orange wheel and cherry
Pour orange juice into an ice-filled glass. Top with cranberry juice. Garnish with orange wheel and cherry. Serve with mixing spoon (optional).
This simple drink is the non-alcoholic version of our Encino Sunrise, shown in our last post. You may notice that the two drinks show opposite layering effects. Why does the cranberry juice sink to the bottom in the alcoholic version, while it remains on top here?
One rule of cocktail layering is that liquids with more sugar tend to be denser. The cranberry juice floats in the Encino Sunset because it has less sugar than the orange juice, and therefore is less dense.
In the Encino Sunrise, another big rule of layering comes into play: alcohol is less dense than water. We mix the orange juice with tequila before adding the cranberry juice; then the cranberry juice sinks below the lighter orange-tequila mixture.
Mixed in LA 