Reader Mode needs a photo on this recipe before it can be turned on.

Smoked honey syrup, lemon, soda, thyme. A drink built around a single technique — cold-smoked honey — that transforms the whole drink into something that tastes like a campfire in summer.

Cold smoking honey as a culinary technique was popularized by Noma in Copenhagen in the late 2010s. The Free Pour application came from Australian bartender Sam Egerton at Maybe Sammy in Sydney, who built a non-alcoholic menu around cold-smoked syrups in 2020. The technique is now standard in serious Free Pour programs.

Ingredients

• Smoked Honey Syrup¾ ounce
• Fresh Lemon Juice¾ ounce
• Soda Water4 ounces
• Thyme Sprig1 each

Directions

Combine smoked honey syrup and lemon juice in a highball glass. Fill with ice. Top with chilled soda water. Stir gently. Garnish with a sprig of thyme, slapped between the palms to release oil.

Notes

Smoke the honey with a handheld smoker (Breville Smoking Gun) over apple or hickory wood for 5 minutes in a sealed container. Let it sit overnight. The result keeps for months. If you don't have a smoker, mesquite-smoked salt and a touch of honey approximates the effect; it's not the same but it's close.