Classic Gold Rush Cocktail Recipe

The Gold Rush is a simple drink that delivers every time. One of the best cocktails with only three ingredients, a Gold Rush is a quick-to-make mixture of bourbon, honey syrup, and lemon juice. It's somewhat of a twist on a whiskey sour, with honey syrup instead of the usual simple syrup made with sugar. It may remind you of another classic cocktail, the Bee's Knees, a prohibition-era drink made with gin (originally bathtub gin), honey, and lemon juice. Because bathtub gin was so strong and not very tasty, honey and lemon juice toned down the liquor with a sweet and sour touch. Eventually, using honey syrup instead of plain honey made the drink more stable.

Recipe developer Michelle Bottalico has created a recipe for a Gold Rush cocktail that comes together in just a couple of minutes and features that classic trio of bourbon, honey syrup, and lemon juice. Making this drink is a straightforward process and won't take up much of your time, but the results are anything but ordinary. This is simplicity at its best — minimal ingredients that meld to create harmony and elevation of taste. The sweetness of the honey and the sourness of the lemon perform a beautiful balancing act, complementing both each other and the bourbon. With a beautiful golden color and lemon twist garnish, this drink is just as fun to look at as it is to sip.

For this recipe, you'll only need three simple but delicious ingredients. Just grab bourbon, honey syrup, and lemon juice. See our FAQ below about how to make your own honey syrup in minutes.

Fill a cocktail shaker with ice.

Add the bourbon, lemon juice, and honey syrup to the shaker.

Cover and shake vigorously until very cold, about 10-15 seconds.

Place ice in a rocks glass and strain the cocktail into the glass.

Garnish with a lemon twist and serve.

Honey syrup is a very useful ingredient for mixing drinks. It adds the sweetness and unique taste of honey to your creation and thickens it up just a touch. But unlike honey, which reacts to heat, honey syrup stays stable even if added to a cold drink or shaken with ice. Once heated and stirred with water, magic happens, and the honey syrup will remain in a mixable liquid state. It won't solidify like straight honey can, even if you use the more solid raw honey, although syrup with unfiltered honey may eventually separate over time.

To make honey syrup, heat honey and water in a 1:1 ratio on medium in a small saucepan. Bring it to a gentle simmer and stir until the honey dissolves completely and the mixture turns clear, and then set it aside to cool. If you use 2 tablespoons of each ingredient, you'll get 2 ounces (or ¼ cup) of honey syrup, which is enough for four cocktails. It keeps well if you make more than you need to use at once.

Store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a month. Although honey lasts forever, adding water means bacteria can enter, so check it for mold before using it, and use distilled water if possible.

Confused about how to make a picture-perfect lemon twist for your next cocktail? It's surprisingly easy to make this striking and colorful garnish for your drinks. First, cut a lemon in half width-wise so you get two round halves rather than elongated ones. Then, make a second cut about ¼ inch from the cut edge of one of the halves. Try to make the slice the same width all the way down for the best results. A ¼-inch slice will give you a good-sized lemon twist, but you can make it thinner or thicker according to the visual effect you're going for.

Take a sharp paring knife and carefully cut around the circumference of the inner peel to separate it from the pith and lemon flesh. You'll want to leave just a touch of pith attached to the peel. Try to make the cut as even as possible so the final lemon twist will look smooth. Then slice through the peel at one point to open up the circle. Stretch the peel into a line and twist it, pith side down, around something long and thin like a chopstick. Make each twist next to the previous one rather than twisting it upon itself like a snail shell. Close your fist over it for a moment to let your body heat hold the twist into place, and then release it and place the beautiful result in your cocktail.