A smoky Scotch whisky sour: blended Scotch shaken hard with fresh lemon, honey syrup and muddled ginger, then crowned with a float of peaty Islay single malt that drifts across each sip. It drinks like a restorative Hot Toddy turned cold and bracing — the Gold Rush's honey-lemon-whiskey template given smoke on the nose and a warm bite of ginger underneath.
Garnish: Candied Ginger
Shaken · Rocks · On the Rocks
muddle
Muddle the quarter-sized fresh ginger slices in the shaker.
add
Add the blended Scotch, lemon juice, and honey syrup to the shaker (everything except the Islay single malt).
shake
Fill with ice and shake well until chilled.
strain
Double-strain into a chilled rocks glass over fresh ice.
top
Float the Islay single malt Scotch on top.
garnish
Garnish with a slice of candied ginger.
The Penicillin is the work of Sam Ross, an Australian bartender who devised it in 2005 while he was working at Milk & Honey in New York. Its name tips a hat to Alexander Fleming's antibiotic, a nod to the drink's soothing, toddy-like character. It has since settled in as a modern classic with a clear author, and the International Bartenders Association now publishes it as an official recipe, calling for Lagavulin 16 as the smoky float.