The Spicy Honey Penicillin

close up of golden yellow drink in etched crystal rocks glass with a lemon peel twist. Blurred in the background is a bottle of Glayva liqueur and Jura whisky with a lemon

Smoky, spicy, sweet, and tangy. Just the way we like 'em. 

by Erin Henderson

My dad’s a whisky man.
 
Shockingly, he doesn’t really like cocktails. Sure, he’s the guy behind the ingenious Dave’s Manhattan, the recipe of which I’ve shared in our newsletter, on Instagram, and You Tube a few times, and he’s been known to down a G+T or two in the summer, but other than that, he’s more likely to take a healthy three-finger dram on ice as his apéro of choice.
 
So imagine my surprise – and chagrin – when he polished off my scotch cocktail while we were having drinks a little while ago.

I suppose I should thank him, really; it was his enthusiastic lapping up of my drink that inspired me to go in search of the ingredients to recreate it for him at home. This was a little over a year ago, and I've been making it ever since. 

This is a very slight riff on a classic Penicillin cocktail, a drink made with a base of peaty whisky and balanced out by honey and lemon and garnished with ginger. I've made a few alterations, but I think it's just as good. Maybe better. And my dad really likes it too. 

Spicy Honey Penincillin

Serves: 1
Bartender level:
easy

Ingredients: 
  • 1 ½ oz smoky Scotch (such as Jura, Laphroaig, or Ardbeg)
  • 1 ½ oz Glayva whisky liqueur
  • 1 oz freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • ½ oz honey syrup
  • 2 oz non-alc ginger beer, for topping
How to Make It: 
  1. In a shaker filled with ice, add all ingredients except for ginger beer, and shake to chill, about 10 seconds.
  2. Strain into a rocks glass with a king cube.
  3. Gently pour in the ginger beer and stir to combine.
  4. Garnish with a thick lemon wedge and serve.  

Hear From Real People!

Our guests had a great evening and Erin made sure that everyone (even non-drinkers) enjoyed themselves! Thanks for making the bridal shower so memorable!
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You and your team were an absolute pleasure to work with! From the get go, you were very flexible with our needs, communicated in a timely manner, and tailored your services to be exactly what we asked for.
The Wine Sisters put on magnificent event in Unionville..... They did a superb job, both as Sommeliers and on the PR and overall event co-ordination ... Great job and we look forward to working with you on our event!
Bravo! You were awesome and I loved the presentation, explanation and selection of wines! I just had to reach out and thank you for a wonderful evening. You two are fabulous – great energy and you really like what you do.  You make tasting wine fun!
I wanted to thank you SO much for your tutored wine tasting! It was so much fun. You were both informative and hilarious! Each person said they would definitely recommend you to anyone looking to do a wine tasting!
You were great and hilarious, and made everyone feel comfortable. Appreciate your time with me and helping pull this event together.
Wow, Emily was absolutely fantastic! She was patient, explained the wines well, and was a delight to work with.

Thank you so much for everything I will definitely use your services again.
 
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The event was a huge success! Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and the group was quite engaged. The wine was also delicious! Thank you so much! I hope we can work together on another event in the future!

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