Simple Syrup: Ratios, Method and Shelf Life

Simple syrup is sugar dissolved in water, it takes about three minutes, and roughly half the cocktails worth making ask for it. The only real decisions are the ratio and how long you want it to keep.

One to one, or two to one

1:1 by volume is the default and what a recipe means when it says simple syrup without qualifying. Equal parts sugar and water. It is easy to measure and easy to substitute for other sweeteners.

2:1 by volume, two parts sugar to one of water, is called rich syrup. It is roughly twice as sweet, so you use half as much, and that matters more than it sounds: using 10 ml instead of 20 ml means 10 ml less water in a drink that is already getting water from the ice.

Rich syrup also keeps far longer, because sugar is the preservative. If you make syrup once a month rather than once a week, make it rich.

Method

Hot is faster, cold is better. Neither is difficult.

Cold, for 1:1

Put equal volumes of caster sugar and room-temperature water in a jar, seal it, and shake for a minute or two until the liquid is clear. No heat, no evaporation, so the ratio stays exactly what you measured. Caster sugar dissolves faster than granulated because the crystals are smaller.

Hot, for 2:1

Two parts sugar to one of water in a small pan over a low heat, stirred until it is clear. Do not boil it. Boiling evaporates water and makes the syrup thicker than you intended, and it can start to invert the sugar, which changes the flavour.

Shelf life

• 1:1, refrigerated: about a month. It grows mould before it does anything else, so watch for cloudiness or specks.
• 2:1, refrigerated: six months and often longer.
• Either, with 15 ml of vodka added per 250 ml: considerably longer, and undetectable in a drink.

Store it in a bottle you can pour from and label it with the ratio. Two unlabelled jars of clear liquid in a fridge is a mistake you make once.

What to use instead

Sweetness is sweetness, but the other things a sweetener brings are not interchangeable.

• Demerara syrup (same method, demerara sugar) adds a molasses note that suits aged spirits. It is what a good Old Fashioned usually wants.
• Honey syrup, three parts honey to one of warm water so it pours, is floral and heavy. Essential in a Bee's Knees, and overwhelming in most other things.
• Agave syrup is thinner and cleaner and belongs with tequila. A Tommy's Margarita is a Margarita with agave in place of the orange liqueur.
• Granulated sugar straight in the glass works only where the drink is stirred long enough and warm enough to dissolve it, which in practice means muddled drinks and not much else.

How much a drink needs

In a sour, the starting ratio is 2:1:1, spirit to citrus to syrup. So a Daiquiri is 60 ml rum, 30 ml lime, 30 ml of 1:1 syrup, and a Whiskey Sour is the same shape with lemon.

Adjust the syrup rather than the citrus. Sweetness is the forgiving axis and acidity is not: a drink with too little sugar tastes sharp and is fixed with a barspoon, while a drink with too much acid is finished.

More on that in the sour formula, which is the ratio most of the three-ingredient drinks are built on.