 | Real workers bees know. Originally I wanted to do a few things with this drink recipe: 1. Pink color, due to the heart mechanics in the fight 2. Bourbon spirit base, since the English VA has a southern belle accent 3. Bee-themed garnish 4. Honey as the sweetener... obviously I figured I'd tackle #1 and #4 together by making a honey grenadine. I used Jeffrey Morgenthaler's grenadine recipe as a base, with the main challenge being how to balance sweetness, tartness, and color using honey instead of sugar. Once I had my syrup, my first drink attempt—2 oz bourbon + 0.75 oz honey grenadine + 0.75 oz lemon—was drinkable, but also wasn't better than any of the classic sour drinks. The pink color was also not as vibrant as I had hoped. I iterated on the recipe a couple times and came to the sad realization that the bourbon was holding the drink back. So I decided to go tiki with the drink to improve the flavor, at the cost of being less thematic. With a split rum base and a bit of pimento dram, I had finally made a drink worthy of the name: Honey B. Lovely * 45 ml / 1.5 oz light rum (I used Planteray 3 Stars) * 15 ml / 0.5 oz full-bodied aged rum, e.g. from Guyana/Jamaica/Barbados (I used El Dorado 12) * 30 ml / 1 oz honey grenadine (recipe below) * 22.5 ml / 0.75 oz fresh lemon juice * 7.5 ml / 0.25 oz pimento dram (I used St. Elizabeth Allspice Dram) * 1 dash Angostura bitters Shake with ice and double-strain into a chilled coupe. Garnish with a cocktail pick of lemon twist and a cocktail cherry. Honey Grenadine * 80 ml / ⅓ cup pomegranate juice, fresh-squeezed or bottled (I used POM Wonderful since it's not pomegranate season) * 45 ml / 1.5 fl oz** honey (lighter-colored honey=pinker drink; I used raw local blackberry honey) * 10 ml / 2 tsp pomegranate molasses (I used Cortas) * 0.8 ml / 20 drops French orange flower water (optional, I used Noirot) Combine all ingredients at room temperature; you may first heat the honey to help melt it if it has crystallized, but don't heat the pomegranate juice otherwise you will lose the bright fruit flavors. Store the grenadine in the refrigerator. You may wish to make a larger batch and fortify with a splash of vodka to extend its shelf life. **If you have a refractometer: instead of adding exactly 45 ml of honey, mix the other ingredients first and then add honey to target 45 brix. If you make this recipe let me know what you think of it, and if you have suggestions for improvement! The flavor will change significantly based on your choice of aged rum and honey. Some variations: * simplified version: 2 oz white rum + 1 oz honey grenadine + 0.75 oz lime or lemon juice * gin instead of rum: 2 oz Plymouth gin + 1 oz honey grenadine + 0.75 lemon juice submitted by /u/whatisshamona [link] [comments] |
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