Gold Rush cocktail recipe

This one is for the bees. The very golden and aptly named Gold Rush cocktail trades sugar for honey in this riff on the Whiskey Sour. Joining other classic cocktails from the 2000s, this bright drink is back, much like many other naughties trends.

Since 1999, and for most of the 2000s, the New York bar scene was all about cocktail hotspot Milk & Honey. That’s a substantial amount of time for a city that changes its mind as quickly as Wall Street moves. This was likely due to their long list of cocktail credentials (see Penicillin and Irish Maid), launching some of bartending’s biggest names and, most famously, for having no menu. Instead, drinks were made after a conversation between the bartender and customer. It was a tailor-made experience. And in 2001, when T.J. Siegal (friend of Milk & Honey founder Sasha Petraske) requested his go-to Bourbon Sour be made with the honey syrup Sasha had been talking about, together they created one of the bar’s queen bees.

Without a menu, the popularity of the Gold Rush relied on word of mouth, and due to its balance of sweet aromatic honey with sour lemon and oaky bourbon, it was soon dubbed ‘the bartender’s choice’ for whisky drinkers. By 2002, it was a Milk & Honey staple. The bar may have closed in 2020, but the drink remains one of its most famous creations. Warm and sweet, it’s cut perfectly by a citrusy zing and is an easy drink with comforting depth. 

Even though honey is what makes the Gold Rush what it is, to make this cocktail vegan, you can swap the honey for maple syrup, which goes equally well with bourbon. Just be aware that maple syrup has a stronger flavour than honey, so you might like to use a touch less or go for a more robust bourbon to stand up to the more dominant taste. If you prefer your cocktails with less of a bourbon tone, use 50ml instead, or simply swap it for your whisk(e)y of choice.

As a three-ingredient wonder, the third element – lemon – does require a little attention. That is, freshly squeezing it. As this cocktail is based on a Sour, where tang is one of the key elements, the pre-work will pay off as it matches bourbon’s depth and tempers honey’s sweetness.

Still want more from that honey jar? Try other cocktails that hero it, such as Bees Knees, the Honeyrita and Air Mail.