Making Syrups from Scratch: The Complete Guide

The single highest-leverage investment you can make in your home bar costs almost nothing: making your own syrups. Bottled grenadine tastes like artificial cherry. Bottled orgeat is often sickly sweet. Homemade versions take ten minutes to make, cost a fraction of the price, and transform your cocktails in ways that a new spirit bottle cannot.

The Fundamentals: Sugar and Water

All syrups start from the same place: sugar dissolved in water. The ratio determines the syrup's viscosity, sweetness intensity, and shelf life.

Simple Syrup (1:1 Ratio)

Recipe: 1 cup white granulated sugar + 1 cup water.

Method — Cold Process: Combine sugar and water in a jar, seal, and shake vigorously for 2–3 minutes until the sugar fully dissolves. No heat required. The cold process preserves a slightly cleaner flavor.

Method — Hot Process: Combine in a small saucepan, heat over medium while stirring until sugar dissolves (do not boil), then cool before bottling.

Uses: The universal sweetener. Goes into almost every Sour cocktail, most Fizz drinks, and many spirit-forward cocktails when you want a touch of sweetness without textural richness.

Shelf life: 2–3 weeks refrigerated. Add 1 oz of neutral vodka per cup to extend to 4–6 weeks.

Rich Simple Syrup (2:1 Ratio)

Recipe: 2 cups sugar + 1 cup water. Must use the hot process to fully dissolve.

Method: Heat water to near-boiling, add sugar gradually while stirring. Continue stirring until completely clear and dissolved. Do not boil — it causes crystallization.

Why it matters: Half the volume delivers the same sweetness. Useful for short, concentrated drinks (like the Old Fashioned) where you want to minimize added liquid.

Shelf life: 4–6 weeks refrigerated due to the higher sugar concentration, which acts as a natural preservative.

Demerara Syrup

Recipe: 1 cup demerara sugar + 1 cup water (1:1) or 2 cups demerara + 1 cup water (2:1).

Demerara sugar has a natural molasses character and caramel notes that white sugar lacks. The resulting syrup has genuine complexity — it makes the difference between an Oleo Saccharum that tastes sugary and one that tastes layered.

Best uses: Old Fashioned, Penicillin, and any Tiki cocktail that wants richness.

Honey Syrup

Recipe: 1 part honey + 1 part warm water (not hot — heat destroys honey's aromatics).

Method: Gently warm the water to about 100°F (warm to the touch), add honey, and stir until fully incorporated. Never boil honey syrup.

Why it matters: Pure honey is too thick to pour and meter accurately from a jigger. Diluted 1:1, it behaves exactly like simple syrup in terms of pourability while contributing honey's floral complexity. Essential for the Penicillin and the Hot Toddy.

Best honey to use: A mild wildflower honey lets the honey character come through without overwhelming. Strongly flavored honeys (buckwheat, raw organic) can be too aggressive.

Shelf life: 2–3 weeks refrigerated (honey's natural antimicrobial properties help somewhat, but dilution reduces shelf life vs. straight honey).

Flavored Syrups

Ginger Syrup

Recipe: - 1 cup water - 1 cup granulated sugar - 1/2 cup fresh ginger, roughly grated (do not peel — the skin adds depth)

Method: Combine water and ginger in a saucepan. Bring to a simmer and hold for 10 minutes. Add sugar, stir to dissolve, then simmer 5 more minutes. Strain through a fine mesh strainer, pressing on the ginger solids to extract maximum flavor. Cool before bottling.

Uses: Moscow Mule, Dark and Stormy, ginger margaritas, and any cold-weather cocktail.

Shelf life: 10–14 days refrigerated.

Grenadine (Pomegranate Syrup)

This is the recipe that shows most clearly why homemade beats bottled.

Recipe: - 1 cup pomegranate juice (POM Wonderful is the benchmark) - 1 cup white granulated sugar - 1/2 oz pomegranate molasses (optional, for depth) - 3–4 dashes orange flower water

Method: Combine juice and sugar in a saucepan over low heat. Stir until sugar dissolves — do not boil (boiling drives off the fresh pomegranate aroma). Add pomegranate molasses if using. Remove from heat, add orange flower water, cool, and bottle.

Uses: Tequila Sunrise, Rum Punch, and the Clover Club.

Shelf life: 3–4 weeks refrigerated.

Orgeat

Orgeat is the almond syrup essential to the Mai Tai and many other Tiki drinks. Making it properly from scratch takes 45 minutes and produces something extraordinary.

Recipe: - 2 cups raw almonds (blanched works too) - 1 cup water (plus more for blanching) - 1.5 cups white granulated sugar - 1 oz orange flower water - 1 oz vodka (preservative)

Method: 1. Blanch almonds: pour boiling water over almonds and let sit 1 minute. Drain and pop skins off by squeezing between fingers. 2. Toast the blanched almonds in a dry pan for 3 minutes until fragrant. 3. Blend almonds with 1 cup cold water until a fine slurry forms. 4. Press the slurry through a fine-mesh strainer and cheesecloth to extract almond milk. Squeeze hard — you want maximum yield. 5. Combine the almond milk with sugar in a saucepan over low heat, stirring until dissolved (do not boil). 6. Remove from heat, add orange flower water and vodka. Cool and bottle.

Shelf life: 2–3 weeks refrigerated. The vodka extends shelf life significantly.

Shortcut: Small Hand Foods Orgeat is the best commercially available version if making your own feels like too much.

Syrup-Making Best Practices

Bottles: Use glass bottles or mason jars. Label with the syrup name and the date made.

Cooling: Always cool completely before sealing — trapping steam creates condensation that dilutes the syrup and shortens shelf life.

Straining: For any infused syrup, strain through a fine-mesh strainer. For grenadine and orgeat, strain through cheesecloth for crystal clarity.

Vodka extension: Adding 1 oz of neutral vodka per cup of syrup at bottling extends shelf life without affecting flavor at typical usage volumes (3/4 oz syrup per cocktail).

Shelf life cheat sheet:

Making your syrups fresh means your Daiquiri will taste like it came from one of the best bars in your city. The investment is 10 minutes and about $3 per batch.