Penicillin
As I’ve been playing around with cocktails, I’ve received lots of recommendations from friends which has been really fun. A while back, my friend, Chelea, told me about a scotch cocktail that she loves called the Penicillin. It took me several months to get around to making it because I didn’t have any scotch and honestly, it intimidated me a bit. The Penicillin was created by Australian bartender, Sam Ross. He is the same guy who created one of my very favorite cocktails, the Paper Plane. Upon reading this, I was more convinced to order the two types of scotch required for the drink. The Penicillin calls for blended scotch, ginger juice, honey syrup, lemon juice, and a float of Islay single malt scotch. Like most cocktails, there are several adaptations out there. The recipe that my friend uses calls for a ginger liqueur along with a honey syrup. Most of the recipes I found online and in cocktail books called for a ginger honey syrup so I decided to go that route. You make a honey syrup, add sliced ginger to it and allow the mixture to steep overnight in the refrigerator. The next evening, I made the cocktail and have to say, I wasn’t really into it. I couldn’t taste the ginger and was generally underwhelmed, regretting my scotch investment!
The following morning I was thinking about the drink and trying to decide if I wanted to explore the ginger liqueur method but ultimately decided that the ginger honey syrup was my problem. Something was off with it. I googled Sam Ross and his Penicillin and found this video! In the video, Ross explains the ginger to honey ratio. He also points out that many people find that their drink falls short because they don’t execute the syrup as he intended. The Penicillin is a bit like a whiskey sour. You want to offset the sour of the lemon with a sweetener, but instead of making a typical simple syrup, Ross uses a 3:1 honey syrup and a straight ginger juice that he mixes with granulated sugar. You end up combining these two sweeteners to balance the lemon juice.
So back to the kitchen I went! I took whole ginger root and put it in my Vitamix, unpeeled with a little bit of water. I blended it until it was purèed. Then I used a metal sieve to separate the juice. From there you must sweeten the juice with granulated sugar. Unfortunately, I did not keep track of my measurements and I was totally winging it. It took more sugar than I would have guessed to sweeten that straight ginger! Once I got the sweetened ginger juice dialed in, I made a new honey syrup, combining 3/4 cup of honey and 1/4 cup water over medium heat, stirring until the honey was dissolved. I put both the syrup and the sweetened ginger juice into the fridge to make the cocktail the following day. After testing the ginger juice so many times while sweetening, I had no palate left for the cocktail!
The next evening, I invited a couple of friends over to join me on the patio to test out the Penicillin. The drink was delicious! Many people have told me they do not like Islay single malt scotch but it ups the complexity of this drink. Yes, it’s very smoky and peaty but it’s just a small amount floating atop the drink. Once you settle in with the cocktail, you start to appreciate the combination of ingredients and all that is going on in the drink. The honey and ginger balance out the lemon as Ross had explained. I used Compass Box Artist’s Blend, which is really smooth. If you are looking to go on a culinary/cocktail adventure, I recommend checking this one out! It’s admittedly a little bit of work but a lot of fun. Enjoy!
Penicillin
I’m going to give you the recipe as Sam Ross presents it in the video, using milliliters, instead of ounces because it makes it simpler with the two sweeteners.
Ingredients:
50 ml blended scotch, such as Compass Box Artist’s Blend
20 ml freshly squeezed lemon juice
10 ml honey syrup (instructions below)
10 ml sweetened ginger juice (instructions below)
10 ml Islay single malt scotch, such as Laphroaig 10 years
candied ginger, as garnish
Method:
Combine blended scotch, lemon juice, honey syrup, and ginger juice in a shaker with ice. Shake until well chilled and strain into a rocks glass over one large ice cube. Float the Islay single malt on top. Garnish with candied ginger.
Honey Syrup:
Combine 3/4 cup honey with 1/4 cup water. Stir over medium heat until dissolved. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature. Honey syrup will last in the refrigerator for a couple of weeks.
Ginger Juice:
Juice whole ginger in either a juice or a Vitamix equivalent. Strain the juice using a metal sieve. Add granulated sugar until sweetened. This requires a bit of experimenting, depending on how much ginger juice you have. Stir and taste! Once sweetened, juice can be refrigerated for a week.
