Medovukha Cocktail Recipe
Warm honey drink with spices — served hot in a mug and older than almost anything else here.
- Category: Popular
- Glass: Irish coffee mug
- ABV: 10%
- Difficulty: Medium
- Prep time: ~3 min
Ingredients
- Honey liqueur50 ml (1.7 oz)
- Cold water120 ml (4.1 oz)
- Honey20 ml (0.7 oz)
- Cinnamon stick1 piece
- Cloves3 piece
How to Make It
- Warm the water with the honey, cinnamon and cloves until the honey dissolves — do not boil.
- Strain out the spices.
- Stir in the honey liqueur off the heat.
- Pour into a warm mug with a cinnamon stick.
Garnish
Cinnamon stick
What it tastes like
The sweetness is pronounced and there is a spiced warmth to it.
The technique
Built in the glass. Ice goes into the serving glass, the ingredients go on top, and you stir once if at all. Anything carbonated goes in LAST and never gets stirred; every turn of the spoon costs you bubbles. Fill the glass to the rim with ice: less ice melts faster, not slower.
Glass and ice
A handled, thick-walled Irish coffee mug. Built for hot drinks: the handle protects your hand and the thick glass holds the heat. Warming it with hot water first noticeably changes the first sip.
Ingredient notes and substitutes
- Cold water
- Seeing it in a recipe is not a mistake: in spirit-forward drinks, measuring the dilution instead of leaving it to the ice is what makes the result repeatable.
- Honey
- Honey will not disperse in a cold liquid; turn it into a syrup first, three parts honey to one part hot water. Dark honeys bury the spirit's aroma — a pale one is safer.
- Cinnamon stick
- A cinnamon stick is aroma, not decoration: it steeps in a hot drink, and in a cold one it is rubbed along the rim to leave its scent.
The Story
Honey drinks predate distillation across the Slavic world; medovukha was fermented for years before a faster boiled version took over.
Frequently asked questions
- How is a Medovukha mixed?
- It is built in the glass and served in an Irish coffee mug.
- How strong is a Medovukha?
- Roughly 10% ABV as served — lighter than a beer — a long-conversation drink that takes a second round.
- Can a Medovukha be made without alcohol?
- Simply leaving the spirit out does not work — the body and the bitterness go with it. The 86 alcohol-free recipes in the catalogue are built to hit that balance from the start.
- Is a Medovukha hard to make?
- Moderate. A shaker or mixing glass plus a strainer covers it.
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Alcoholic drink recipes are intended for those aged 18 and over. Please drink responsibly.