Honey, I’m Home

Recipe:

 2 oz. Johnnie Walker Black Label Whisky
.5 oz Tobacco-smoked honey simple syrup
.5 oz fresh-squeezed lemon juice
2-3 dashes Angostura Bitters
1 Eames Lounge Chair

Stir with ice, then strain into a chilled rocks glass filled with ice.

Garnish with a lemon twist.

You don’t have to watch many episodes of Mad Men to realize that while there were many problems with the 1960s, stylish leisure was not one of them. The clothes. The furniture. [Thanks for running up the price on my favorite vintage finds, jerks.] The scotch on the rocks. And, of course, the cigarettes. This drink is an ode to the time of the stiff five o’clock  cocktail and the cigarette you’d blissfully inhale with it. You can almost taste the unquestioning belief in American greatness. So, go ahead, walk in the door, plop yourself down in your Eames Lounge Chair, announce, “Honey, I’m Home!” and cross your fingers that Doris Day will run this elixir out to you. Then get up and make it yourself. Seriously, your wife is going to be home from work any minute, and she needs it as badly as you do.

Make your honey simple syrup in a small pot on the stove with equal parts honey and water, then let it cool. I used Savannah Bee Company’s Orange Blossom Honey. Once cool, cover the pot lightly with plastic wrap. To smoke the honey simple syrup, I used The Smoking Gun™. It’s a remarkably handy device that has small chamber for your smoking fuel. Simply load the chamber with your flavoring agent,  in this case, Original Blend Natural American Spirits loose tobacco, tuck the flexible rubber tube under the plastic wrap over the pot of simple syrup, light the tobacco and turn on the magical smoking machine. Unless you’re in the mood to smoke what feels like a pack of cigarettes, I’d suggest not inhaling deeply as you do this.

Seal the plastic wrap and leave it for three minutes. After the three minutes have elapsed, take off the plastic, build your cocktail and store any extra syrup in a glass container in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.

If you’re not ready to invest in The Smoking Gun™, check out this technique by food blogger Irvin Lin’s Eat the Love blog. No special equipment required!