As I’ve had some unexpected travel this week, I thought I’d share my first post with my newer readers. It’s one of my favorites. As a bonus, I’ve added a short video showing how I use the Smoking Gun to make my tobacco-smoked honey simple syrup.

Honey, I’m Home

Recipe:

 2 oz. Johnnie Walker Black Label Whisky
0.5 oz Tobacco-smoked honey simple syrup
0.5 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.

Make your honey simple syrup in a small pot with equal parts mild-flavored honey and water, then let it cool. I use Savannah Bee Company’s Orange Blossom Honey. Once cool, cover the pot lightly with plastic wrap. To smoke the syrup, I use The Smoking Gun™. It’s a remarkably handy device that has small chamber for your smoking fuel. Load the chamber with Original Blend Natural American Spirits loose tobacco, tuck the flexible rubber tube under the plastic wrap, 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, measure what you need for tonight’s 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!

To mix your cocktail, fill a mixing glass with ice and add 1/2 ounce each of freshly squeezed lemon juice and tobacco-smoked simple syrup, two ounces of Johnnie Walker Black Label Whisky and 2-3 dashes of Angostura Bitters. Stir until chilled, approximately 30 seconds, then strain into a rocks glass filled with ice. Garnish with a lemon twist then sip.

You can almost taste the unquestioning belief in American greatness.

Now plop yourself down in your Eames Lounge Chair, throw on a Dean Martin record and announce, “Honey, I’m Home!”