Substitutions

Sakaba knows which bottles can stand in for each other. It uses that list in My Bar, so a drink you can make with a close substitute isn’t hidden from you, and on recipe pages, so you can see what would work in a pinch.

Two kinds of swaps

The swaps are a fixed, hand-picked list, and each one is marked as one of two kinds:

• Like-for-like. The drink doesn’t change. Tennessee whiskey for bourbon, Cointreau for triple sec, cava for prosecco and aquafaba for egg white are all like-for-like. In My Bar these drinks count as Ready.
• Close substitute. It works, but the drink comes out a little different, and Sakaba usually says how. Rye instead of bourbon is “drier, spicier”; lemon juice instead of lime juice is “rounder, sweeter”. In My Bar these drinks go under Ready with a swap.

Specific bottles cover general ones

A specific bottle also covers a recipe that asks for its general kind, with no swap involved. Bourbon covers “whiskey”, white rum covers “rum”, and Cointreau, Grand Marnier and orange curaçao all cover “triple sec”.

It doesn’t work the other way round. If you only ticked a general bottle, say whiskey, a recipe that asks specifically for bourbon still needs bourbon or one of its substitutes.

Swaps in My Bar

On the Cocktails tab in My Bar, each row under Ready with a swap has a line starting with Using: the ingredient the recipe asks for, an arrow, the bottle you’d use instead, and the note on how it changes the drink. A row shows up to two swaps. See What can I make.

Swaps on a recipe

On a recipe page, an ingredient that has substitutes shows a small two-arrow icon next to its name. Tap the ingredient to open its amount sheet: under the amount you’ll see up to two stand-ins, each with its note in parentheses. On an Old Fashioned, for example, bourbon lists “Tennessee whiskey” and “Rye (drier, spicier)”.

These are suggestions only. The recipe itself stays the same; if you want to pour a different amount, change it on the same sheet. See Servings and scaling.

Classics that allow no swaps

A few classics depend on one particular ingredient. For these, Sakaba shows no substitutes for that ingredient, and My Bar counts the drink only if you have the real thing:

• Sazerac: rye
• Mai Tai: orange curaçao
• Last Word: green Chartreuse
• Daiquiri, Gimlet and Margarita: lime juice

Variations whose names contain these, such as a Frozen Daiquiri or Tommy’s Margarita, follow the same rule.

What Sakaba won’t swap

Swaps that would make a different drink are left out on purpose. Campari and Aperol, ginger ale and ginger beer, and soda water and tonic water are never treated as interchangeable.

Good to know

• Ready counts leave swaps out. The number of ready drinks on Home, in My Bar, from Siri and in reminders includes like-for-like swaps but not close substitutes.
• You can’t add your own swaps. The list is built into the app.
• Missing bottles. Buy missing on a recipe adds only what you can’t cover with a bottle or a listed substitute you already own. It counts close substitutes too, even for the classics that don’t allow a swap, so check the ingredient sheet if a drink still isn’t ready. See Shopping list.

Questions? Write to sakabaapp@proton.me.