With only 3 ingredients, the Gold Rush cocktail is as easy to make as it is elegant. Inspired by the classic whiskey sour, this drink from beloved New York bar Milk & Honey blends bourbon, lemon juice, and rich honey syrup for a balanced sweet-tart, silky, luscious sip.

Henry McKenna bonded 10-year old bourbon is the recommended choice here, but use what you like. You’ll have a full 1/3 cup of honey syrup, so you can shake up plenty of cocktails, or try leftover syrup in tea. Play around with different types of honey too, to subtly change the flavor of the drink. For more 3-ingredient marvels, try Jackson Cannon’s Jack Rose and the Obituary Cocktail too.

And if you think honey is the bee’s knees, be sure to try our Wisdom of Pelé cocktail recipe, and our Madame’s Choice cocktail recipe as well.

  • Yield: 1 drink
  • Difficulty: Easy
  • Total: 3 minutes to make cocktail, plus 5 minutes to make syrup and 30 minutes for it to chill 
  • Active: 3 min 

Ingredients (5)

For the Gold Rush:

  • 2 ounces bourbon
  • 3/4 ounce lemon juice
  • 3/4 ounce rich honey syrup

For the rich honey syrup:

  • 1 cup honey
  • 1/3 cup water

Instructions

For the Gold Rush:

  1. Combine all ingredients in a cocktail shaker filled with ice and shake until chilled, about 15 seconds. Strain into a rocks glass over one large piece of ice.

For the rich honey syrup:

  1. Heat the honey and water in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the ingredients have integrated. Remove from the heat, let cool, and then refrigerate. Stored in a tightly sealed container, the syrup keeps for a week.

Photograph by Colin Price.