The Penicillin was invented in 2005 at Milk & Honey in New York, and it became a modern classic almost immediately. Scotch, lemon, honey, and fresh ginger. It’s a drink that tastes like a cure for something, which is where the name comes from. The ginger brings heat, the honey brings sweetness, and the lemon ties them together over a smoky base.

Making honey-ginger syrup

Combine equal parts honey and water in a small saucepan. Add a two-inch piece of fresh ginger, sliced thin. Heat gently until the honey dissolves, then let it steep for 20 minutes off the heat. Strain out the ginger and store the syrup in the fridge for up to two weeks. This syrup is the backbone of the drink. It brings warmth and spice that plain honey or plain simple syrup can’t match.

If you don’t want to make the syrup, you can muddle extra fresh ginger in the shaker and use regular honey syrup (equal parts honey and warm water). The flavor is a bit rougher but still good.

The scotch alternative

Seedlip Spice 94 isn’t technically a scotch substitute, but its warm spice profile (allspice, cardamom, bark) fills the same role in this drink. The Penicillin needs a base that’s spicy and aromatic rather than smooth and sweet, and Seedlip delivers that. The ginger and honey do most of the flavor work, so the spirit just needs to provide structure and warmth.

For something smokier, add a quarter teaspoon of lapsang souchong tea to the shaker before muddling. The smoked tea leaves a subtle campfire note that mimics peated scotch. Strain carefully through a fine mesh to catch the leaves.

Double strain

This drink gets muddled ginger, so you need to double strain. Pour through your regular strainer and hold a fine mesh strainer between the shaker and the glass. This catches all the ginger fibers and gives you a clean drink. Skip this step and you end up chewing your cocktail, which isn’t the experience you’re after. The Scotch Bonnet makes a good pairing if you want a lighter scotch-style option alongside this one.