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.  

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