Recipe Doctor

Fix my cocktail

Choose the drink you made and what is wrong with it. You get the likely cause in that recipe, what to change, what the change does, and what it costs.

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The faults, and the rule behind each

Each fault is only diagnosed for a recipe that can genuinely have it. The counts are how many of the 193 recipes on CocktailHQ are prone to each one.

Balance

It's too sweet: Usually an over-poured syrup or liqueur. Cut the sweet element rather than adding more of everything else — a squeeze of citrus is the quick rescue for a drink already made.; 158 recipes
It's too sour: Citrus varies far more than any measured ingredient. Correct the ratio with small additions of the recipe's own sweetener, tasting between each.; 112 recipes
It's too bitter: Bitterness builds as you drink. Lengthen slightly or add a touch of sweetness; acid sharpens bitterness rather than hiding it.; 45 recipes
It's too strong: In a spirit-forward drink, a little more dilution opens it up. For a lasting change, reduce the base measure and keep the rest of the spec.; 64 recipes
It tastes weak: With alcohol, the cause is usually wet or small ice. Without it, thinness means the drink needs acidity, bitterness or texture — not more fruit.; 122 recipes
It tastes like juice: An alcohol-free drink loses alcohol's bitterness, weight and warmth. Replace them with tannin, bitters, salt or spice, and pull the sugar back.; 17 recipes
One ingredient drowns out the rest: A loud ingredient at a full measure flattens everything around it. Pull it back in 5ml steps and leave the rest of the spec alone.; 11 recipes
It tastes salty: Salt in a drink should round it, not be tasted. A drop or two of saline is the working dose; on a rim, salt half of it and only the outside.; 11 recipes
There's a bitter, pithy edge: Citrus oil is in the coloured skin; the white pith underneath is bitter. Cut peels thin, and muddle citrus to press it, not to grind it.; 26 recipes
The sweetness is off even though I measured: Syrups are made at different strengths. A rich 2:1 syrup is about half as sweet again as a 1:1, so a measure written for one is wrong for the other.; 41 recipes

Dilution and temperature

It tastes harsh or hot: Burn is nearly always under-dilution. Stir or shake to the point the heat recedes, not to a fixed count.; 69 recipes
It's watery: Small, wet or warm ice over-dilutes before the drink is cold. Bigger, colder, drier ice and a chilled glass fix it.; 99 recipes
It isn't cold enough: A drink served without ice is coldest the moment it is poured. Chill the glass and strain straight away.; 53 recipes
The ice melts too quickly: Small, wet ice in a warm glass melts fastest. Fill the glass to the top with cold, dry ice — more ice lasts longer, not shorter.; 121 recipes
It's so cold I can't taste it: Cold numbs sweetness and holds aroma in the glass. Let a very cold drink stand a minute, or balance a frozen one a little sweeter.; 5 recipes

Aroma and depth

It doesn't smell of anything: Much of a drink's aroma sits above it, in the garnish. Express peels over the surface, and do not serve aromatic drinks so cold they cannot smell.; 193 recipes
It tastes one-dimensional: Simple drinks expose their ingredients. Improve the quality of what is there — fresh citrus, a better bottle, a dash of bitters — before adding anything.; 157 recipes
The herbs taste bitter or grassy: Shredding mint or basil releases bitter, vegetal flavours. Press to bruise, not to grind, and fine-strain anything shaken with leaves.; 10 recipes
The garnish is all I can taste: A garnish sits closest to the nose. Grate spice lightly, express a peel and discard it, and keep herb sprigs small.; 70 recipes
It tastes flat, dull or like old wine: Vermouth, sherry and other wine-based ingredients oxidise once opened. Keep them in the fridge with the cap on, buy small bottles, and taste a bottle that has been open a while before building on it.; 32 recipes
The tea tastes harsh or stewed: Tea gives up its tannin faster than its flavour. Brew it hotter and shorter for black tea, cooler for green, take the leaves out on time, and make it strong rather than long.; 3 recipes

Texture and appearance

It's gone flat: Carbonation escapes to warmth and agitation. Chill the mixer, add it last, pour it down the side of the glass and stir once at most.; 62 recipes
It's cloudy when it should be clear: Only a fault in stirred, all-spirit drinks. Shaking whips in air and ice shards; stir smoothly instead. Shaken sours are meant to be cloudy.; 23 recipes
It has separated: Acid curdles dairy, blended drinks drain as they stand, and layers merge when poured too fast. Most separation is fixed by speed, cold and serving promptly.; 18 recipes
The foam is thin or collapses: Ice gets in the way of foam. Dry shake without ice first, or reverse dry shake for the densest head, and keep fat out of the shaker.; 10 recipes
There's too much foam: A whole egg white is a lot of foam for one drink. Measure 15–20ml rather than using it whole.; 9 recipes
It's too rich or heavy: Fat and sugar coat the palate. Less cream, a harder shake for air, or a smaller serve lighten it more than adding anything.; 15 recipes
It's grainy or gritty: Sugar barely dissolves in cold spirit. Dissolve it in a splash of water or bitters before the ice goes in, or use syrup.; 8 recipes
It foams over when I top it up: Bubbles form on ice, sugar and dry glass. Pour cold mixer slowly down the side of a tilted glass, in two goes.; 62 recipes

Making ahead

My batch tastes worse than the first glass: Spirits keep; citrus, fizz and opened wine-based ingredients do not. Batch only what is stable and add the rest as you pour.; 47 recipes

Serving several

The garnish wilts before I serve it: Herbs and cut fruit dry out at room temperature. Keep them cold and damp, and garnish each drink as it goes out.; 39 recipes
Each drink comes out different: Free-pouring and overloaded shakers make every round different. Measure every pour, shake no more than two at a time, and batch what keeps.; 88 recipes

How the Doctor decides

Nothing here is generated per request. Each recipe's ingredients, measures, method and glass are read for the jobs they do — which ingredient carries the sugar, which the acid, whether anything builds foam or carries fat, how the drink is chilled and whether it is served on ice. A fault is offered only when that reading says the drink can have it: a Martini is never diagnosed as flat, and a shaken sour is never told it should be clear.

Where a cause can be pinned to a named ingredient, it is. Every fix comes with its trade-off, because every change to a balanced drink moves something else. For the underlying mechanics, see how cocktails are balanced and dilution and temperature; for alcohol-free drinks specifically, body, texture and complexity without alcohol.