The boy and his poison: Penicillin

I hope you all had a great Burns night on Wednesday and that you're all now haggis and whisky converts. My dad's side of the family is Scottish and I hate to miss an excuse for midweek gluttony and excess, it also seemed a great theme to base todays drink on.

I have to prefix this recipe with an appeal. If any of you ever meet my grandfather, I certainly didn't suggest replacing the traditional blended whisky base with single malt and I definitely did not advocate bringing ice within a square mile of Scotch. If he finds out I'll probably be disinherited. The Penicillin is a little like a younger, more Scottish Whisky Mac mainly thanks to the tang of the lemon and some lovely Scottish honey. If ginger isn't your thing you could try making a single-malt sour using the tip at the bottom of this recipe or even go the whole hog and try the Atholl Brose... a veritable meal in a glass.

You'll need

• 50 ml Single malt Scotch
• The juice of half a lemon
• A small knob of ginger
• A jar of honey

Make the honey-ginger syrup:

• Add equal parts honey and ginger to a pan. You'll eventually need about 30ml of the syrup but make as much as you'd like, its great in porridge
• Wash and finely slice the ginger into the pan (no need to worry about peeling it)
• Gradually bring the mixture to a medium heat and keep it there until its reduced to a runny-syrup consistency
• Then allow the mixture to cool

Then shake

• Add the Scotch, and equal parts lemon juice and ginger syrup into an ice filled shaker
• Shake for 10-15 seconds
• Strain into a martini glass and garnish with some finely sliced ginger