They’re some of the easiest ways to make better drinks.
Secret’s out, guys: making your own syrups is the easiest way to improve your home cocktail game by a country mile. You know how crafting a sauce or stock from scratch makes you feel like Heston’s long-lost twin? It’s the same with syrups. It’s such a shortcut to complex, layered flavours in a cocktail, it almost feels like cheating.
Homemade syrups are a huge win for even the simplest serves. A basic G&T? A whisky highball? One spoonful of syrup and suddenly you’re slinging bartender-level finesse.
The best bit is that syrups couldn’t be easier to make. They come together in a flash and last weeks in the fridge, and you can take them in any flavour direction you like – fruit, veg, herbs, nuts, spices, you name it. Once you start, you’ll be syrup-pilled forever.
Cocktails are all about balance, and most use some sort of sweetener to smooth out sharp, sour and bitter notes. Sometimes it’s agave or maple syrup, or perhaps fruit juice, liqueurs or sweet vermouth – but time and again, you’ll see recipes that call for sugar syrup.
Why not just use plain sugar? Because it doesn’t dissolve in a cold drink – and nobody wants a sandy sip. So, we turn to sugar syrup. ‘Simple’ syrup is just white sugar and water in a 1:1 ratio. ‘Rich’ syrup at 2:1 makes for a thicker, silkier texture and longer shelf life.
Ratios aside, making syrup is a low-effort enterprise. Heat sugar and water in a pot (no boiling), stir until dissolved and clear, then cool before bottling in an airtight container. Simple syrup will last about a month in the fridge.
Having mastered the basics (you clever thing), the next step is adding flavour. All you need are sugar, water, your flavourings of choice, a fine strainer, and something to store it in. Whatever flavour you’re searching for, the steps are pretty much always the same: make your sugar syrup, add your flavourings, then cool, strain and store.
Add from the start: Hardier ingredients need a little coaxing to release their flavour (think spices, roots, tough herbs, frozen and rich fruits, or zests) so heat these together with your sugar and water
Add later: Delicate, fresh or aromatic ingredients (think soft herbs, berries, flowers, tea, or nut butters) can lose their vibrancy or turn bitter if overdone, so steep them in your syrup once it’s off the heat.
We mean it when we say you can steer this ship anywhere you like. Below are a few thought-starters, but feel free get weird with it.
Berries
Strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and even gooseberries can all be made into syrups. Last week’s blueberries looking a little past their prime? Or do you have some frozen strawberries slowly becoming one with the freezer walls? Fish ’em out, so they can start their new life as a delish addition to your next cocktail. All you need is a jug, a saucepan, a fine filter, water and sugar. Add ⅔ cup of water and the same of white sugar (use white sugar – as it dissolves quickly and is neutral tasting) into your saucepan. Slowly boil the mix until all the sugar is dissolved, being careful not to burn. If you’re using frozen berries, boil them with your sugar and water. Take your sugar and water mix off the heat, add your fresh berries and mash with a fork. Let that steep for an hour and then fine-strain the mix into your container and pop it in the fridge.
Once you've experimented with this very simple formula, feel free to add in things like pepper, salt, spices or vinegar for a little intrigue. The fragrant, sweet and hopefully very colourful syrup can be added to a myriad of drinks for a little berry flavouring, like your fave Gin and Tonica. But if you’ve specifically mixed up a raspberry syrup, we’d definitely be mixing that bad boy up into a Clover Club.
Ginger
When it comes to flavoured syrups, ginger syrup reigns supreme. Not only because it’s bloody delicious, but it’s also used in a surprisingly large amount of cocktails, most famously in the Penicillin and the Buck cocktail family (ginger, carbonate, lime, spirit). Its welcoming soft spice adds depth to your fave bourbon or whiskey drinks, and balances strong molasses in rum cocktails, too. Ginger is also most likely dying from lack of attention in your fruit bowl, next to a browning banana (which you promise will be made into banana bread).
There are two ways of prepping your ginger syrup: you can use chopped-up pieces or you can juice your ginger and boil it. The quicker and far easier way is to peel and chop your ginger into nice chunks. And, just like before, get your fine strainer, saucepan and jug ready. This time we want 1 cup of water to 1 cup of white sugar. Slowly boil until the sugar dissolves, remove from heat and mix through your ginger chunks (about half a cup is good). Let that steep for half an hour to an hour. Once cooled, strain it into your jug or serving vessel and pop it in the fridge. Chuck it in a Moscow Mule to concentrate those ginger flavours or switch out the simple syrup for ginger syrup in your Old Fashioned. You can also dial up the spice in this syrup – simply add some chilli flakes in with your ginger chunks to steep.
Pomegranate, AKA grenadine
If ginger is the king syrup, pomegranate is the queen. Grenadine is used in a tonne of fun cocktails, including one of this author’s nostalgic faves, the Singapore Sling. While you can definitely buy grenadine everywhere, there is no comparison between real and homemade. Making it at home from fresh pomegranate juice gives the syrup a beautiful yet subtle acidity. Start by juicing your pomegranates (high-quality pomegranate juice can also be used) – we need at least 1 cup for the mixture to work. Add half the mixture to a saucepan and gently reduce until it’s about a quarter of its size. Add the rest of the juice and stir in 1 cup of white sugar, mixing until completely dissolved. Take off the heat and let it cool. Add in a fancy little splash of orange flower water and fine strain into a container.
As mentioned, grenadine is a vital ingredient in the flamboyant Singapore Sling, but it also goes in a heap of other cocktails, too. Shake it up in a Pink Lady, or Jack Rose, marble it in a Tequila Sunrise, stir it through an El Presidente or chuck a few dashes in a Daiquiri, because pink.
Honey and maple syrups
Perhaps the easiest way to insert a little zhuzh into your cocktail is by mixing up a honey or even a maple syrup – you guessed it – syrup. It’s super easy; just add about half a cup of honey or maple syrup and half a cup of water to a saucepan and heat, being careful not to burn. Once all the honey or maple has dissolved, take it off the heat and allow it to cool. Transfer into an airtight container and bingo-bango you’ve got yourself a syrup.
We recommend adding it to your Old Fashioned or a Whiskey Sour for a honeyed twist on the classics. Try mixing it up in the simple Bees Knees cocktail or have a go at Louis Hanson’s popular Honeyrita cocktail. You can even give it some heat by chucking some chilli in there for a spicy kick like Nick Pearce did for his Spicy Honey Peach Marg. Just remember to fine-strain it before putting it in the fridge.
Spices
Heavy spices like cinnamon and star anise differ slightly from other syrups, mainly because it takes a while for heavier spices to impart their flavour. So, start with your 1:1 water and sugar mix. Slowly bring to a boil until all sugar is dissolved. Take off the heat, break your spices into smaller pieces and dump in the sugar mix. Allow to steep for around 6 hours or overnight. Fine-strain, making sure to get all those barky spice bits out, and put the strained syrup in the fridge.
This syrup will work with bigger flavoured spirit-forward drinks like a Rum Old Fashioned, but it can also be added to things like the Coquito cocktail in place of ground cinnamon.
Honourable mentions
Passionfruit is a super-fun syrup to have lying around, especially if you’re keen on a Pornstar Martini now and then. Coconut is great if you like Piña Coladas (and getting caught in the rain), while Vegemite syrup, miso syrup and other funky things like gochujang are great pantry staples if you want to elevate your Bloody Mary game.
We’ve purposefully left herbs off this list because there are better ways of extracting those flavours (nobody wants cooked basil syrup that’ll just taste like grass). Lighter herbs like basil and mint need a bit more love than simply heating in sugar, while others like rosemary and thyme work best smoked.
