Penicillin
Blended Scotch, honey, ginger and lemon under a float of Islay. The drink that settled the argument about whether Scotch belongs in a shaker.
Built to the standard modern spec; not yet tested in our kitchen. How we test.
The recipe.
Scaling adjusts quantities only. Prepare shaken drinks in individual portions.
Let’s make a good drink.
Add the blended Scotch, lemon juice, honey syrup and ginger syrup to a shaker.
Fill with ice and shake hard for 12-15 seconds.
Strain over one large cube in a rocks glass.
Float the Islay Scotch over the surface — pour it slowly over the back of a spoon and do not stir.
A thoughtful finish
- Float the Islay, do not shake it in. The whole point is that you smell the smoke before you taste it; shaken in, it just makes the drink taste ashy.
- Make honey syrup at 3:1 honey to hot water. Neat honey will not incorporate in a cold drink and will sit on the bottom of the shaker.
- Sam Ross's own version uses a combined honey-ginger syrup. Making them separately lets you dial the ginger up or down to your own taste.
Common mistakes
- Using a single malt as the base. A blended Scotch is cheaper, smoother and exactly right; save the malt for drinking.
- Pouring more than a quarter-ounce of Islay. At half an ounce the peat flattens the honey and the drink loses its balance.
- Skipping the ginger. Without it this is a Gold Rush with smoke on top — pleasant, but not the same drink.
A few good questions.
What Scotch should I use?
A decent blended Scotch for the base — nothing expensive. For the float, a heavily peated Islay. One small bottle of Islay will make dozens of these because you only use a quarter-ounce.
Can I make it without the Islay float?
Yes, and then you have essentially a ginger Gold Rush, which is a good drink. But the float is the invention and the reason the Penicillin is famous.
How do I make honey syrup?
Three parts honey to one part hot water, stirred until it dissolves. It keeps about a month in the fridge.
Why is it called a Penicillin?
Because it reads as a remedy — honey, lemon and ginger are what you take for a cold, and the Scotch is the part that makes it a cocktail. Sam Ross named it as a joke about that.
Variations
- Gold Rush — The same idea without ginger or smoke.
- Bee's Knees — Gin, honey and lemon.
- Hot Toddy — The warm version of the same honey-lemon logic.
- Mezcal Penicillin — Mezcal in place of the Islay float.
Where it comes from
2005 · New York City · Sam Ross · Milk & Honey
Sam Ross created it at Milk & Honey in New York in 2005, while working under Sasha Petraske. It is the rare modern cocktail whose authorship is undisputed and precisely dated, and it has entered the canon faster than almost anything else from the 2000s. The structure is a Gold Rush — whiskey, honey, lemon — with ginger added and a smoky Islay float on top, and the float is the invention: it puts the peat in your nose rather than in the drink, so the smoke arrives as aroma and never overwhelms the honey.
Sources
- Sam Ross / Milk & Honey, New York, 2005 (bartender attribution)
- Robert Simonson, A Proper Drink, 2016 (book)
- Death & Co: Modern Classic Cocktails, 2014 (book)
Strength. About 1.62 US standard drinks at an estimated 19.5% ABV, estimated from the ingredients and technique, not measured. What that means.
A little character in every sip.
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