Cocktails with Honey syrup
Honey syrup is honey thinned with hot water so it will mix into a cold drink, as raw honey will not.
How it's used
It sweetens like sugar syrup but adds body and a floral note that softens sharp citrus. That is its job in the Bee's Knees and the Penicillin. The richer the syrup, the less of it a drink needs.
Substitutes for Honey syrup
Homemade honey syrup
Stir honey into warm water until smooth. Three parts honey to one part water, by volume, makes a rich syrup about as sweet as 2:1 sugar syrup. Equal parts give a lighter one.
Replaces the rich version measure for measure, minus the floral note.
Thin it the same way. It mixes just as easily but tastes neutral and comes out slightly less sweet.
Straight honey
This is far too thick to mix into a cold drink undiluted. It will simply sink to the bottom.
Storage
Dilution is what puts honey at risk: the water that makes it pour also makes it perishable. Chilled, the syrup keeps a few weeks, far short of the honey it came from, and it goes cloudy before it turns.
