About This Recipe
A honey whiskey sour uses honey syrup to sweeten whiskey and fresh lemon. This is a Gold Rush-style drink: no egg white or liqueur, served over fresh ice. The small syrup batch is weighed and used completely in one drink, so there is no leftover syrup yield to guess.
Recipe
Honey Whiskey Sour, Gold Rush Style
Shake 80-proof whiskey with fresh lemon and a measured honey syrup. A Gold Rush-style sour served over ice, with alcohol energy included.
6Ingredients
Yield: 1 servings
- 55.6 g 80-proof whiskey (2 US fl oz; USDA standard portion)
- 22 g fresh lemon juice
- 21 g honey
- 10.5 g water for syrup
- 100 g water, frozen into ice for shaking and serving
- 1 g lemon peel, without attached flesh
Ingredient amounts scale; instructions show the original batch. Cooking times and pan sizes may need adjustment. Season to taste. Honey grams use US measures at 20°C and 17.5% moisture, a density estimate; weigh your honey for precision.
Instructions
- 1Dissolve the honeyWarm the honey and 10.5 g water in a small heatproof cup set in warm water, stirring just until dissolved. Allow about 1 minute, then let cool for about 6 minutes. Scrape the cup well so the full measured syrup goes into the drink.
- 2Shake with lemon and whiskeyAdd the cooled syrup, fresh lemon juice and the measured 80-proof whiskey to a cocktail shaker. Add roughly half the ice and shake hard for about 15 seconds, until the outside is cold.
- 3Strain over fresh icePut the remaining ice in a serving glass. Strain in the drink, leaving the shaking ice behind. Twist the measured lemon peel over the surface and add it as the garnish. Serve one drink. The 12-minute total includes syrup cooling; a warmer syrup needs longer before shaking.
Estimated nutrition per serving
197.59 calories · 0.06 g fat · 18.98 g carbohydrate · 0.16 g protein · 6.1 mg sodium
Serving: 1 of 1 servings
Calculated from ingredient weights and USDA FoodData Central: 174815, 167747, 169640, 173647, 167749. Estimates use ingredient input weights; actual portions, brands and cooking losses vary. Omitted nutrient values are unavailable, not zero.
Honey Syrup Makes an Even Sour
Honey can cling to a cold shaker. Dissolving it in a small measured amount of warm water first lets it mix with the lemon and whiskey. This syrup is two parts honey to one part water by weight, and the complete 31.5 g batch is used.
Chivas describes a Gold Rush with whiskey, lemon and honey syrup. The literal source excerpt supports dissolving the honey; this recipe states its own weighed balance. A Gold Rush is a useful style description for this honey-sweetened whiskey sour.
Flavor intensity uses an editorial culinary scale: 1 is mild and 5 is bold. These are tasting suggestions, not laboratory measurements.
Sources: UC Agriculture and Natural Resources: cooking with honey; USDA FoodData Central: Alcoholic beverage, distilled, all (gin, rum, vodka, whiskey) 80 proof; Chivas: dissolving honey for a Gold Rush.
1 = mild, 5 = bold. Editorial pairing guidance, not laboratory measurements; jars vary.
- Clover
- Whiskey and fresh lemon
- Wildflower
- A floral whiskey sour
- Orange blossom
- A citrus-led sour
Get the Honey Buyer's Cheat Sheet (free PDF)
16 varieties on one page — color, flavor, best use and what a fair price looks like — from the 304 honeys we track.
Choose Whiskey with the Stated Proof
Use an unflavored 80-proof whiskey for the estimate. The USDA reference covers generic 80-proof distilled spirits rather than the composition of a particular brand. Its direct fluid-ounce portion is 27.8 g, so 2 US fl oz is mapped to 55.6 g.
That is a sourced standard portion, not a measured density for every whiskey. Higher-proof whiskey, sweetened products or extra liqueur change the estimate. The alcohol energy is included.
Shake, Strain and Serve over Ice
Use fresh lemon juice and let the syrup cool before shaking. Strain over the fresh half of the measured ice rather than pouring every piece of shaking ice into the glass. The final dilution depends on ice and shaking.
The lemon peel is the only garnish in the formula. For the gin version served up, see the Bee's Knees honey cocktail. A honey lemonade uses a separate nonalcoholic balance.
Honey Choice and One-Drink Yield
Clover gives a mild sweetener behind the whiskey and lemon. Wildflower adds a more noticeable floral note. Use the measured amount first; pouring extra honey changes the sweet-sour balance as well as the serving estimate.
The yield is one drink, not a promised finished volume or exact alcohol percentage after shaking. The calculation includes the measured lemon peel and syrup. Culinary honey ginger tea is another warm drink option without spirits.
Choosing the Honey
Use Clover Honey or Wildflower Honey for the flavor described in this recipe. See our honey selection guide for other culinary choices.
