Make Simple Syrup
Simple syrup — or one of its many variations — is commonly featured in many of the cocktails on barpretending. For what amounts to being ‘sugar water’, it is a surprisingly crucial ingredient to have on-hand in your home bar and is (wait for it…) simple enough make! Gone are the days where you spend money on a bottle of the pre-made variety, because, let’s be honest, this isn’t the cheapest hobby to begin with… so save money where you can. You will also be able to make syrups that are harder to come by such as demerara syrup (a less refined sugar more similar to a brown sugar but still granular in texture). Some common syrups are:
Simple Syrup — equal parts of white sugar and water (a 1:1 ratio).
Demerara Syrup — equal parts of demerara and water (a 1:1 ratio).
Rich Simple / Demerara Syrup — two parts of white sugar or demerara to one part water (a 2:1 ratio).
Honey Syrup — three parts honey to one part water (a 3:1 ratio).
Dissolve equal parts sugar in heated water. I would caution against heating up the mixture together as you run the risk of throwing off the sugar to water ratio; this is important when it comes to achieving a consistent and repeatable cocktail experience. Let the mixture cool down and transfer the syrup to container for storage. I recommend storing your syrup in a bottle with a stopper, but any air-tight sealable container will work. If stored properly, the syrup can be kept anywhere from a few weeks to a month depending on the syrup. Rich Syrups have a slightly longer shelf-life due to the additional sugar content.
Even though the vast majority of the recipes featured on this site use one form or another of simple syrup, I concede that there are some cocktails such as the Old Fashioned where convention wisdom dictates using sugar cubes. Tradition aside, I prefer to use syrup simply for the overall consistency of the cocktail (i.e. how well it is “mixed together”) — the less undissolved sugar settled at the bottom of my glass, the better! These cocktail recipes are based upon my own preference, so don’t take my word for it, make some syrup and try it for yourself!
