Cheeky Habanero Hot Honey Syrup Makes Sweet Heat Easy
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We’ve been playing with Cheeky’s Habanero Hot Honey Syrup all week. Infused with habanero chile peppers, it was created to add a spicy twist to cocktails. But we’ve wandered afar from expressing our inner mixologist, using Habanero Hot Honey Cheeky sweet with everything from hot chocolate to ice cream and vinaigrette (see our list of adventures below). Handcrafted with habanero chiles, honey, and water, and free from preservatives or artificial flavors, these shelf-stable syrups are also nifty gifties for home cooks and mixologists. > Below: uses for Habanero Hot Honey Syrup. > Also below: a Spicy Bee’s Knees cocktail recipe. > The history of simple syrup. > The history of chile peppers. > The different types of chile peppers: a photo glossary. > A year of chile pepper holidays. > A year of cocktail holidays. > Check out things to do with Cheeky’s Decaf Espresso Syrup. Bottles are available in 2-ounce (photo #2), 4-ounce (photo #1), 16-ounce, and 750ml/25.4-ounce sizes. The small size is a great party favor or stocking stuffer. While your on the website, CheekyCocktails.co (not .com), check out the other flavors and mixers, and gift sets. Habanero-infused honey simple syrup offers a wonderful balance of sweet and spicy that works in many applications. Spicy Cocktails The Bee’s Knees cocktail was created during Prohibition (1920-1933) in the U.S. Like many cocktails from this period, it was designed to mask the harsh taste of bathtub gin. It was a version of the gin sour, substituting the richer, stronger honey syrup for simple syrup*. The original creator’s name is lost to history. There’s a common belief that a famed bartender, Frank Meier, created the Bee’s Knees cocktail at the Hotel Ritz in Paris in the 1920s. But he was not the first to make it. While Meier included a recipe for the Bee’s Knees in his 1934 book, The Artistry of Mixing Drinks, the cocktail was served in American speakeasies before then. Why the name? Not only was the drink considered to be excellent (“the bee’s knees” in the slang of the day), but it contained honey. The drink fell out of fashion after Prohibition but has enjoyed a revival during the craft cocktail renaissance of the 21st century. Now, it’s made with quality gin, and more people are disposed to natural honey as a sweetener than refined sugar. Why can’t you use straight honey in the drink? Straight honey is very thick and doesn’t mix easily into cold beverages. It needs to be made more fluid by diluting it with water. The typical ratio is 2 or 3 parts honey to 1 part water, stirred to a uniform consistency. (Any extra can be easily stored). The conventional Bee’s Knees is made with traditional honey syrup. This version turns it into a Spicy Bee’s Knees. If you’re not a gin lover, substituting Bourbon creates a Spicy Gold Rush. Ingredients Per Drink 1. COMBINE the ingredients in a shaker filled with ice. Shake for 10-15 seconds and strain into a coupe or rocks glass. 2. GARNISH with a lemon twist. |
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________________ *By the early 19th century, bartenders were regularly using sugar syrups in drinks [source: Claude.ai 2025-04-28].
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