Sugar comes in a couple different forms behind the bar. You have your granulated sugar that is used to for sugar rims on glassware. There are sugar cubes used for drinks such as iced tea, coffee, Irish Coffee, Hot Brandies or Hot Toddies. There is also a liquid form of sugar which is known in the bar world as simple syrup. Simple syrup can also be referred to as sugar syrup or sugar water. Simple syrup is a sweetening agent that consists of two parts sugar and one part water. It’s used to sweeten up any drink, alcoholic or virgin.

Simple syrup is really easy to make. First, you take the two parts sugar, add the one part boiling water and stir until the sugar has dissolved completely. Then, allow the solution to cool and store in a separate container for future use, ideally an old liquor or white wine bottle that has been emptied and cleaned. Just be sure to mark the old bottle so it’s obvious that the new contents are simple syrup and not what the bottle used to contain.

At BevMo, you can purchase a 12 oz bottle of simple syrup for a whooping five bucks. Five bucks! The BevMo product claims that the only ingredients used are organic sugar and purified water. Honestly, you can go to the grocery store, purchase a pound of sugar for under a buck, use the purified water from your Brita and end up making just as good of a simple syrup as the one for sell at BevMo. Your homemade simple syrup won’t have the fancy packaging, but you will save a good chunk of change. This is the exact reason why a lot of bars choose to make their own simple syrup as oppose to buying it. Especially in these strange economic times. It just makes more financial sense.