How To: Make and Use Miso Syrup

Add Umami and depth to your next drink with this effortless syrup.

Miso has been a staple of Japanese cuisine for centuries, popular enough that the fermented paste has been produced at an industrial level for at least 500 years. It’s a kitchen staple for adding Umami to a variety of foods, and has been steadily finding its place in bar programs.

Production techniques and aging vary, resulting in a wonderfully diverse array of Miso options. Today, many grocery shelves are stocked with multiple options, but we’ll focus on White Miso Paste, a wonderful starting point and the most widely available.

Scroll on to learn how to make Miso Simple Syrup, and check out three cocktails that show its range.

How To Make Miso Syrup

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/watch?v=REpzaaL_wz4

Miso Syrup Ingredients:

• 2 cups Water
• 2 cups Granulated Sugar
• .5 Cup White Miso Paste

Instructions:

• Bring water to a boil, and then lower heat.
• Add sugar and whisk until combined.
• Add Miso paste and whisk until combined.
• Fine Strain into a non-reactive container and store refrigerated.

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How to Use Miso Syrup in Cocktails

Miso syrup is your cheat code to easily add umami and depth to a whole range of cocktails.

A quick Google search for Miso flavor pairing affinities yields so many options it will make your head spin. From the simplest Dashi to Peanut Butter Cookies with 7,000+ reviews, and fish glazes to roasted winter root vegetables to caramel ice cream drizzles, Miso is a versatile and powerful tool to surprise and delight your guests.

As a syrup, it’s just as generous. And while we love our base recipe for White Miso Syrup, we suggest thinking of it as a template, a jumping off point for your creativity—swap out the white sugar for alternative sweeteners like Agave or Jaggery. Try an aged Miso. Make a compound syrup, make a shrub…Go wild.

Below are three recipes that show just a hint of what you can do with Miso syrup behind the bar. Enjoy!

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Peanut Butter Miso Old Fashioned

Peanut Butter and Miso Syrup double down on the savory and sweet combo in this Old Fashion riff. The fatwash provides a lush mouthfeel and the Umami highlights the Bourbon’s vanilla and caramel notes.

Ingredients

• 2 oz Peanut Butter fat-washed Wild Turkey 101*
• .5 oz Miso Syrup
• 2 dashes each Orange Bitters and Aromatic Bitters

Instructions:

• Add all ingredients to a mixing glass with ice.
• Stir and strain over a large cube. Garnish with expressed lemon and orange twists.
• *Peanut Butter Wild Turkey: Spread 16 oz peanut butter across a large baking pan with a lip, creating a thin layer. Pour one 750 ml bottle of Wild Turkey 101 Bourbon on top. Cover the pan tightly with plastic wrap to prevent evaporation and allow it to sit overnight at room temperature. The next day, strain the bourbon through a coffee filter and funnel it back into the bottle. Discard the peanut butter.

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Miso Dark and Stormy

This riff replaces the layered build with a whip shake, better aerating and marrying all the components. Appleton’s apricot and molasses really sing with the umami counterpoint, and the dark rum float gets replaced with Averna, whose bitter orange and licorice add a complex undercurrent to the affair.

Ingredients:

• 1.5 oz Appleton Estate Signature Jamaica Rum
• 1 oz Lime Juice
• .75 oz Miso Syrup
• .5 Averna
• Club Soda

Instructions:

• Add all ingredients except soda to a shaker tin with a small handful of pebble ice.
• Whip shake until ice dissolves. Add soda and quick stir to incorporate.
• Pour into a chilled highball glass full of ice. Garnish with Lime wedge.

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Thai Basil Miso Margarita

Thai Basil, more opinionated and often more anise-forward than other basils, is an obvious addition to the Margarita.

This recipe is sweetened by a Miso Agave syrup, which nicely highlights the flexibility of the template. What you end up with a perfect accompaniment to quality Tequila – bright, vegetal, and complex.

Ingredients:

• 2 oz Espolon Blanco Tequila
• .75 Lime juice
• .5 Miso Agave Syrup
• .25 Grand Marnier Cordon Rouge
• 3 Thai Basil leafs

Instructions:

• Add all ingredients to a mixing glass with ice and shake hard.
• Fine strain into a chilled rocks glass with ice.
• Garnish with a Thai Basil leaf and a Lime wheel.

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Want more bartender how-to’s? Learn to make Aperol Caviar, ferment DIY Ginger Beer, and Create Campari Dust.