There’s a particular kind of quiet that happens on Glendo Reservoir just before the sun comes up. The water is glass, the air is colder than you remembered packing for, and somewhere off the boat you can hear a loon working its way across the bay. Kimi was asleep in the truck back at the launch the first time I really got into walleye, and I remember thinking — as I unhooked a fat three-pounder and slid him into the cooler — that this was a fish nobody back home ever talked about. Trout, sure. Bass, all day. But walleye? Walleye flies under the radar in a state full of anglers who should know better.
There’s a specific Saturday in early June up here when Wyoming finally remembers it’s supposed to be summer. The wind dies down for once, the snow on the Bighorns has pulled back to just the high stuff, and the back porch warms up enough that Kimi and I can sit outside in shorts without immediately regretting the decision. That morning, I usually walk out with the coffee, look at the mountains, and start thinking about what we’re going to drink that afternoon. This year, the answer was easy.
I’d picked up a jar of wildflower honey from a roadside stand on the way back from Thermopolis a couple weeks earlier, and a bottle of Wyoming Whiskey had been sitting on the bar cart begging for a job. Add a bag of lemons, a little fizzy water, and about ten minutes of effort, and you’ve got a Wyoming honey whiskey lemonade that tastes exactly like the first real warm weekend of the year. Pine in the air, sun on your face, ice clinking in the glass.
This is a daytime drink. I want to be clear about that. It’s not a slow-sipping fireside number — it’s a porch sipper, a “we’re grilling later and the dog is in the grass” kind of cocktail. Light, bright, sweet but not cloying, with just enough bourbon to remind you it’s still a cocktail. If you’ve ever wanted a homemade lemonade cocktail that actually tastes like where you live, this is it.
Why Wyoming Honey Makes This Drink
Here’s the deal with local honey: the bear-shaped stuff at the grocery store is fine, but it’s basically a flavor blank. Wyoming wildflower honey — the kind you grab from a farm stand near Sheridan, or at the Cheyenne farmers market, or off a shelf in Cody — has actual character. You’ll taste clover, sweet yellow blossoms, sagebrush sometimes, depending on what the bees were working that summer. When you reduce it down into a simple syrup and stir it into a cocktail, that character carries through. A Wyoming honey cocktail tastes like Wyoming. Store honey just tastes sweet.
Pick up a jar from a local producer if you can. If you can’t, a good raw wildflower honey will still do the job nicely — look for something unfiltered.
Honey Simple Syrup (Make This First)
This is so easy it barely counts as a recipe. You’ll have leftovers, which is fine — it keeps in the fridge for about a month, and you’ll find ten uses for it.
- 1/2 cup honey (Wyoming wildflower if you’ve got it)
- 1/2 cup hot water
Stir the honey and hot water together in a jar until the honey fully dissolves. Let it cool, screw the lid on, stash it in the fridge. Done.
Ingredients
For a single cocktail:
- 2 oz bourbon or whiskey (I use Wyoming Whiskey Small Batch)
- 1 oz fresh lemon juice (about half a lemon)
- 3/4 oz honey simple syrup (recipe above)
- 3–4 oz sparkling water or club soda
- Ice
- Lemon wheel and a sprig of fresh mint, for garnish
For a pitcher (serves 8–10):
- 2 cups bourbon or whiskey
- 1 cup fresh lemon juice (about 6 lemons)
- 3/4 cup honey simple syrup
- 4 cups sparkling water or club soda (add right before serving)
- Lemon wheels and a big handful of mint
- Plenty of ice
Instructions
For a single drink: Add the bourbon, lemon juice, and honey syrup to a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake hard for about 15 seconds, until the outside of the shaker is frosty and your hand is cold. Strain over fresh ice in a tall glass, top with sparkling water, and garnish with a lemon wheel and mint. Give it a gentle stir — don’t beat the bubbles out of it.
For a pitcher: Stir the bourbon, lemon juice, and honey syrup together in a big pitcher until well combined. Refrigerate until you’re ready to serve. When guests show up, fill the pitcher with ice, top with sparkling water, and float lemon wheels and mint on top. Pour over ice in tall glasses.
- Use fresh lemon juice. The bottle is right there. Don’t do it. Fresh juice is the entire difference between a great whiskey lemonade recipe and a mediocre one.
- Taste before you serve. Lemons vary. Honey varies. Too tart? Add more syrup. Too sweet? Squeeze in more lemon.
- Shake the boozy part, then top with fizz. You want the bubbles to survive long enough to reach your face.
Variations
- Mocktail version: Skip the whiskey, double the honey syrup and lemon, top with extra sparkling water. Genuinely good.
- Smoky version: Use a rye instead of bourbon, or float a quarter ounce of Islay scotch on top for something more interesting.
- Ginger honey lemonade: Muddle a thin slice of fresh ginger in the shaker before adding everything else. Adds heat that pairs beautifully with the honey.
- Extra herbs: A sprig of thyme or rosemary turns this into something special.
What to Eat With It
This cocktail is basically built for a summer grill night. We made a batch last weekend alongside grilled Wyoming trout with lemon herb butter, and the lemon-on-lemon situation just worked. It’d also be killer with burgers, smoked chicken, or a charcuterie board on the patio.
And if you really want to lean into the Wyoming-ness of it all, use Wyoming Whiskey as your base — I wrote about visiting their distillery in Kirby, and their Small Batch bourbon has a honey-vanilla note that practically begs to be in this glass.
Bring It Outside
This is the kind of drink that makes a weekend feel like a real weekend. Mix one up, sit on the porch, and watch the light go long over the mountains. That’s a Wyoming summer in a glass.
If you make it, tag me on Instagram @wyofood — I want to see your porch, your view, your dog in the background. Cheers from Wyoming.