Last week, the National Honey Board hosted an evening of honey-infused cocktails to show off honey's strength as a cocktail ingredient. While most of us are familiar with mixing in some simple syrup when a drink needs some sweet added in, honey sweetens naturally, makes a great simple syrup, and flavor-infused honeys can add serious flavor and aroma to whatever you're mixing.

Prominent mixologists from across the country created nine honey-featured cocktails to show how easily it blends with the other ingredients to create unique and distinctive drinks. Three of them are below.

BASILICO
Gabriel Orta, Master Mixologist, The Florida Room
Co-Founder, BAR LAB, Miami, Florida

The ideal accompaniment to a good cut of meat. Enjoy the first sip and lose yourself in the different hints of fruit mixed with the aroma of pepper and herbs
Ingredients
3/4 oz honey
1 1/2 oz whisky
1/2 oz lemon juice
4 basil leaves
3 strawberries
Dash of pepper
Garnish: basil leaf and strawberry

Preparation
Muddle the strawberries and basil and then add the whiskey, lemon and honey. Shake vigorously and strain into a rocks glass with ice. Top with fresh cracked pepper and garnish with a strawberry and a basil leaf.


BEFORE DAWN
Junior Merino, The Liquid Chef
Master Mixologist, Rayuela and Macondo
Founder, The Liquid Chef Inc., New York, New York

Sweetness, tanginess, fruit and tequila along with a flavorful honey coexist in perfect harmony in this fabulous creation
Ingredients
1/2 oz Buckwheat honey
1 1/2 oz Añejo tequila
1/2 oz Cherry liqueur
3/4 oz Fresh lime Juice
1 oz Fresh pink grapefruit juice
Garnish: orange twist and a spiced cherry

Preparation
Pour all the ingredients in a mixing glass and stir until the honey dissolves completely. Add ice and shake. Serve in a Margarita glass and garnish with an orange twist and a spiced cherry.


EL FULO
Pablo Moix
Principal Bartender, The ONE Group
Master Mixologist, STK, Los Angeles, California

Gin is the most traditional cocktail base. In El Fulo, the clover honey syrup infuses taste to the mild flavored gin, resulting in a tropical blonde (fulo) cocktail of exhilarating candor
Ingredients
3/4 oz Home-made clover honey syrup (2 parts clover honey and 1 part water)
3 Lemon wedges
8-10 Mint leaves
2 oz Dry gin
1 oz Gin
Garnish: Powdered sugar dusted, mint sprig and lemon peel

Preparation
In a pint glass, hand press lemon wedges and mint leaves. Add all spirits and mixers, add ice and shake vigorously for 6 sec. Strain over fresh ice in an old fashioned glass. Crown it with crushed ice.