What is Honey Syrup?

Honey is a supersaturated solution of fructose and glucose with minor acids, enzymes, and aromatic compounds from floral nectar. In a cold cocktail it is too viscous to dissolve, so honey syrup — typically equal parts honey and hot water, cooled — is the working form. The water lowers viscosity enough for a shake or stir to incorporate it.

The Penicillin (blended Scotch, lemon, honey-ginger syrup, Islay float) and the Bee’s Knees (gin, lemon, honey) are the two templates that justify a jar on a home bar.

Floral, herbal, or buckwheat-malty depending on the nectar source. Strong honeys (buckwheat, some wildflower) will season the entire sour; a mild clover or orange-blossom honey behaves closer to simple syrup with a bee note.

Honey as a punch sweetener is ancient; it predates cane sugar in mixed drinks by a wide margin. The Bee’s Knees is a Prohibition-era gin sour that uses honey in place of sugar, possibly to mask rough spirit.

The Penicillin, created by Sam Ross in the mid-2000s, is the modern reason most cocktail bars keep honey-ginger syrup: it showed that honey plus ginger could structure a Scotch sour without tasting like a toddy.

Stir honey into hot water until uniform (1:1 by volume is the usual starting point; 3:1 honey to water is richer and will need a smaller pour). Cool and refrigerate; it lasts on the order of a couple of weeks, sometimes longer, but honey syrup can ferment.

Pair with lemon and whiskey or gin. If you substitute honey syrup for simple in a standard sour, start a little lower by volume — honey tastes richer than white sucrose — and adjust.