Indulge in Hot Honey Cocktails to Spice Up Your Evening

Hot honey gives a cocktail two ingredients to work with: sweetness and chili heat. Here are six drinks built around those flavours, from a lime-forward margarita to a warm whiskey toddy.

Taste a small amount of your honey before mixing: different bottles can give you very different levels of heat. These are alcoholic drinks for adults of legal drinking age.

First, make a little hot honey syrup

For the first five cocktails, mix equal volumes of bottled hot honey and water. Warm gently in a saucepan, stirring until they blend, then stop heating and let the portion you need cool before mixing your drink.

Make only what you plan to use for the gathering. Refrigerate promptly if you aren't using it immediately; this diluted mixture isn't a pantry-stable bottle of honey. We don't assign an unverified shelf life to it.

Mike's Hot Honey's foodservice FAQ describes its own 1:1 syrup by net weight. That is a different measurement from the equal-volume preparation retained here. For more about the distinction, see our hot honey syrup guide.

Use bottled hot honey for these drinks. Fresh-pepper infusions need their own measured recipe and safe handling instructions.

1. Spicy Margarita with Hot Honey

Ingredients

• 2 oz tequila, blanco or reposado; mezcal is an alternative spirit
• 1 oz fresh lime juice
• 1/2 oz hot honey syrup, adjusted to taste
• 1/2 oz Cointreau or triple sec
• Fresh jalapeño slices
• Salt, lime wedges, and jalapeño slices for the rim and garnish
• Ice

Method

1. If you want a salted rim, rub a lime wedge around the glass rim and dip it into salt.
2. Add the spirit, lime juice, syrup, orange liqueur, and a few jalapeño slices to a shaker with ice. Shake for about 15 seconds.
3. Strain over fresh ice and garnish with a lime wedge and jalapeño slice.

Serve with guacamole and tortilla chips, cooked shrimp tacos, or chicken quesadillas. Extra jalapeño adds another source of heat, so start cautiously if your honey is already hot.

2. Hot Honey Mule

Ingredients

• 2 oz vodka
• 1 oz fresh lime juice
• 1/2 oz hot honey syrup, adjusted to taste
• 4 oz ginger beer
• Lime wedge and fresh mint sprig for garnish
• Ice

Method

1. Fill a highball glass with ice.
2. Shake the vodka, lime juice, and syrup with ice, then strain into the glass.
3. Add the ginger beer and stir gently. Garnish with lime and mint.

The ginger beer goes in after shaking. Its sweetness and spice vary, so check the label and taste before deciding whether to add more syrup. Spicy chicken tacos, hummus and pita chips, or cooked chicken-and-pineapple skewers are food pairing ideas.

3. Spiced Hot Honey Rum Punch

Ingredients

• 2 oz dark or spiced rum
• 1 oz hot honey syrup, adjusted to taste
• 1 oz fresh lime juice
• 3 oz ginger beer
• Cinnamon stick and lime wheel for garnish
• Ice

Method

1. Shake the rum, syrup, and lime juice with ice for about 15 seconds.
2. Strain into a highball glass over fresh ice.
3. Top with ginger beer, stir gently, and add the garnishes.

Try it with mango salad, roasted sweet potatoes, or cooked jerk chicken. A spiced rum and a spicy ginger beer bring their own flavours; choose the honey with those ingredients in mind.

4. Hot Honey Bourbon Smash

Ingredients

• 2 oz bourbon
• 1/2 oz hot honey syrup, adjusted to taste
• 3–4 fresh mint leaves, plus more for garnish
• 1/2 oz fresh lemon juice
• Soda water, optional
• Crushed or cubed ice
• Lemon wheel for garnish

Method

1. Gently muddle the mint and syrup in a shaker.
2. Add bourbon, lemon juice, and ice. Shake for about 15 seconds.
3. Strain into a rocks glass over ice. Add a splash of soda water if you want it, stir, and garnish with lemon and mint.

BBQ ribs, grilled vegetables, cheese, and spicy nuts are possible accompaniments. You don't need to prepare a separate herb infusion to make this drink.

5. Spicy Hot Honey Old Fashioned

Ingredients

• 2 oz bourbon
• 1/2 oz hot honey syrup, adjusted to taste
• 2 dashes Angostura bitters
• Orange peel for garnish
• Ice

Method

1. Put a large ice cube or several smaller cubes in an Old Fashioned glass.
2. Stir the bourbon, syrup, and bitters together in a mixing glass, then pour into the prepared glass and stir to chill.
3. Twist an orange peel over the drink to release its oils, then add it as a garnish.

Serve with grilled steak, dark chocolate or a hot honey charcuterie board. Angostura bitters contain alcohol; they aren't automatically suitable for an alcohol-free adaptation.

6. Spiced Hot Toddy with Hot Honey

This drink uses bottled hot honey directly, rather than the diluted syrup.

Ingredients

• 2 oz whiskey, such as bourbon or rye
• 1 cup hot water
• 1/2 oz fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 oz hot honey, adjusted to taste
• 1 cinnamon stick
• Lemon slice
• Whole cloves, optional

Method

1. Warm a heatproof mug with hot water, then discard that water.
2. Stir the measured hot water, whiskey, lemon juice, and honey together until the honey dissolves.
3. Pour carefully into the warmed mug. Add the cinnamon stick and lemon slice, with cloves if you want them.

Fresh ginger or star anise are other optional flavor ideas. Use them as directed by a measured drink recipe rather than assuming these additions have been tested here.

Roasted chestnuts, gingerbread or apple crisp make seasonal pairings. This is a warm cocktail, rather than a remedy for a cold.

Choose by flavour

Whiskey, tequila, vodka, and rum give these six recipes different starting points. There's no rule that every gin or light rum clashes with hot honey; the rest of the drink matters as well.

Keep notes on the bottle you used and how much syrup you added. That gives you a more useful starting point for the next drink than a claim that one spirit is always best.