Cheater Simple Syrup for One Cocktail

This is the COOLEST thing ever! In my research for creating the most delicious punch recipe I read tons of recipes. I learned a ton from one book in particular, Death & Co. This came straight out of that book, so I do not claim any ownership of the idea. They are pure genius and you need to know about this. This cheater simple syrup is perfect for making one cocktail at a time. Also since I almost never plan ahead, having a batch of simple syrup to use in my cocktails is not happening. This is the perfect way to sweeten a cocktail quickly.

All you need is a sugar cube and some club soda to make the easiest and quickest simple syrup known to man. While Death & Co. suggests Demerara Sugar Cubes I am using white since they are way easier to find. You lose some nuance of flavor but this will absolutely work for all cocktails.

For one cocktail you need just one sugar cube and 1 oz of club soda.

Are you as excited as I am about this?! I usually use agave syrup in my cocktails as my sweetener of choice. But sometimes I don’t want that caramel-esque flavor. Sometimes it’s all about that refined white sugar taste.

Mix is up. Simple as that. The bubbles help to break up the sugar cube pretty quick. Just stir until the sugar is dissolved. It should take about a minute. I also tried a quick infusion with this method. I scraped some vanilla bean in to one batch and it tasted amazing. It wasn’t quite as flavorful as a real vanilla bean simple syrup, but it worked. I also added 2 drops of bitters to the sugar cube before dissolving it which was another great way to get more flavor in there.

I just had to share this amazing idea from Death & Co. for all my lazy cocktailers. They even employ this technique, in a larger scale, for their punch recipes! This would also work for sweetening up non-alcoholic drinks like lemonade and tea. I’m totally over excited about this!