Sweet on You: Honey Cocktails for Valentine’s Day

Valentine's Day is coming up and, while most people think of popping a bottle of bubbly for the occasion, why not make the day even sweeter with a bit of honey? Most every cocktail that calls for agave or simple syrup can be made with honey. In fact, honey adds another element that can complement a variety of different flavor profiles. 

Matt Kollmorgen, owner of Bee K’onscious , a purveyor of single-origin honeys and a certified honey taster (think of a sommelier for honey), says that honey provides additional depth to a cocktail that simple syrup can't provide. "when you add simple syrup to a cocktail, you just add sweetness, and sometimes that sweetness can be overpowering,” he says. Instead, Kollmorgen, who adds honey to everything from his morning coffee to his evening margarita, suggests experimenting with honey.  

You can use honey in its natural state or dilute it with some warm water to make it easier to mix. Ben Potts, partner at Beaker & Gray , a restaurant and bar in Miami's artsy Wynwood neighborhood, suggests making a simple syrup out of honey instead of sugar by adding 2 parts honey to 1 part warm water. And, unlike making simple syrup with sugar, you don't have to cook the mixture. Like simple syrup, your honey syrup can be refrigerated and will last about a week.

 Now that you've "sweetened" to the idea of honey in your cocktails, here are a few recipes to try for Valentine's Day. Don't forget the "bee my honey" note. 

Honey Cocktail Recipes 

Hey Honey photo credit Four Roses

 Hey, Honey  

Notes of spice, oak, fruit and caramel make Four Roses Small Batch  a natural fit with honey. In this cocktail, honey simple syrup takes the place of the usual simple syrup in a modified whiskey sour. Use a 1:1 honey and water ratio for the syrup.

2 oz Four Roses Small Batch

1 ½ oz honey simple syrup

½ oz lemon juice 

5 drops Angostura Bitters

Add all ingredients to a cocktail shaker with ice, shake, strain into a rocks glass and serve over ice. 

That Kelly Dew

Beaker & Gray's Ben Potts like to add honey to compliment the notes in other ingredients in his cocktails. "A honeydew melon is called honeydew for a reason -- it has honey notes. At the same time, the herbaceous qualities in yellow chartreuse give another layer to the drink." Potts uses orange blossom honey for this cocktail. “Its’ mild qualities don't overpower the honeydew”. 

1 1/2 oz. vodka 

1/2 oz. yellow chartreuse 

1/2 oz. maraschino 

1/2 oz. orange blossom honey syrup 

1 1/2 oz. honeydew juice 

3/4 oz. lime juice 

Combine ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake, and strain into a Collins glass and garnish with mint. 

Thyme and Lime Honey Cocktail

This recipe uses Kitchen Toke hemp honey, which uses a patented Bee Fuse technology that allows bees to naturally express active cannabinoids in their honey, instead of having CBD oil added to honey. Honeybees are attracted to a special hemp nectar, eating it as they would from any flowering plant. The hemp nectar blends with the honeybee’s natural enzymes, creating hemp-infused honey.

2 oz. gin

1 oz. elderflower liqueur

1 oz. Kitchen Toke hemp honey simple syrup

2 tbs. fresh lime juice

2 sprigs, fresh thyme

lime slices

club soda

Combine gin, elderflower liqueur, honey syrup, and lime juice in a shaker filled with ice; shake well. Pour into a tall glass with ice and top with club soda. 

Roll thyme sprigs between your hands a few times to release the oils and garnish with lime slices. 

To make hemp honey simple syrup: Simmer ½ cup water, remove from heat and add 10 sprigs fresh thyme and two long strips lime peel removed with a vegetable peeler. Stir in ½ cup Kitchen Toke hemp honey until dissolved. Steep until cool; strain.

Bee Mine Cocktail

Gareth Howells, Bacardi North American single malts ambassador, loves the idea of incorporating honey into cocktails made with Aberfeldy  single malt Scotch. "Aberfeldy is famed for its rare, honeyed notes that come from the patient process of longer fermentation. The result of this process is a delicious richness that is perfectly accentuated in honey-based cocktails, creating a unique connection between our whisky and the precious natural resource.”

 2 oz Aberfeldy 12 Years Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky infused with cacao nibs

1 shot of espresso

½ oz wildflower honey syrup 

Infuse the Scotch whisky with cacao nibs overnight and strain the liquid. Once ready, combine all ingredients in a cocktail shaker and shake long and hard. Finely strain and serve the cocktail in a coupe glass.

Spicy Honey Margarita

Bushwick Kitchen  makes honeys, sauces, and condiments in Brooklyn, New York from locally sourced ingredients. This spicy honey used in the recipe is made with habanero-infused wildflower honey sourced from the U.S. and Argentina. The honey is also great on pizza, chicken and waffles, or as a marinade starter. 

1 oz. lime juice

1⁄2 oz. Bees Knees Spicy Honey syrup

2 oz. blanco tequila

salt and lime wedge for garnish

Rub a lime wedge around rim of a rocks glass and dip in salt. Add lime juice, honey syrup, tequila and ice to a cocktail shaker. Shake vigorously until frosty and strain into the prepared rocks glass filled with fresh ice. Garnish with a lime wedge.

Bee My Honey

Bee K'onscious owner Matthew Kollmorgen calls this cocktail, "fresh, bright, sweet, and refreshing.” It's also versatile. Though Kollmorgen prefers vodka in the drink, gin, white rum, or tequila can be used instead. Leave out the spirits, and you've got a lovely Valentine's Day mocktail. Kollmorgen uses raw California sage honey, but any raw honey can be used. 

 2 oz. vodka (or substitute any light spirit)

2 teaspoons raw California sage honey

3/4 oz lemon juice 

pomegranate seeds

club soda

2 teaspoons fresh sage

pomegranate seeds

Combine lemon juice, honey and alcohol in a glass. Stir with a spoon until the honey is dissolved, then add ice, and shake until chilled. Pour in a glass and top with a splash of club soda. Garnish with sage and pomegranate seeds.