There are dozens of ways to sweeten a cocktail, but most recipes call for just one: simple syrup, a combination of white sugar and water. Trend alert: That’s all about to change. Today’s top bartenders are swapping out the flavorless white stuff with everything from organic brown sugar to maple syrup.

全国各地的调酒师从厨师那里得到提示，回顾了鸡尾酒的早期，并以较少加工和质量较低的食材重新创建饮料，而不是苹果蒂尼时代的人造口味和甜味剂。他们使用蜂蜜，龙舌兰花蜜和生糖等，使糖浆超越了“简单”。

The right sweet stuff

These natural ingredients do more than sweeten a cocktail: They flavor it, adding complexity as white sugar never could. Raw brown sugars (many of them organic)—including demerara, turbinado, and evaporated cane juice sugar—retain some of their natural molasses content, so they have different levels of moisture and robust, earthy molasses flavor. Agave nectar comes from the cooked and filtered sap of the agave plant (which is also used to make tequila and mezcal). It can be light or dark, and its flavor ranges from mild to an almost maple syrup taste. As for honey, the darker the color, the stronger its flavor—and the more intense the cocktail.

How to use them

因此，您已经拿起了一些天然甜味剂，并准备将它们添加到您的家庭酒吧。首先将它们变成糖浆，使它们很容易溶于您的鸡尾酒。然后混合。

A delicious drink to get you started is theFresh Mamie Taylor, which pairs scotch with a syrup of organic evaporated cane juice sugar and raw ginger for spicy heat and a rich sweetness.

A great honey drink is theQueen Bee Mojito, featuring a honey-sweetened mixture of rum, lime, fresh mint, and sparkling wine that boasts bigger, bolder flavor than a typical Mojito made with white sugar and soda water.

The refreshing, lightly spicy花园派对鸡尾酒beautifully showcases the pairing of silver tequila and light agave syrup (a natural match because they come from the same plant), with cucumber and jalapeño thrown in for a cool flavor kick.

Beyond these recipes, you can experiment with pairing by color: darker sweeteners (dark brown sugars, maple syrup) match with darker, heavier spirits (dark rum, bourbon, brandy), just as light sweeteners (agave, mild honey) go well with pale spirits (light rum, gin, cachaça).

So save the white sugar in your cupboard for baking and start thinking like a bartender. With a wide range of alternative sweeteners at your disposal, there’s no longer any need to keep your syrups simple.