Caged Heat Cocktail Syrup

After reading about this cocktail syrup in the Food & Wine section of the San Francisco Chronicle last year, I went to Amazon to order it, but it was out of stock for a long time. When it finally arrived in stock, I added it to my Subscribe & Save subscription and gifted a bottle to my son-in-law for Christmas. He instantly fell in love with it, and has been trying out all the recipes on the Caged Heat website. He has ordered replenishments, and has introduced his best friend to the syrup, and he has ordered it too! The color and label might make you think it's mouth-scolding hot, but it's not. It adds a pleasant tingle to mixed drinks, and is especially good with bourbon or rye whisky.

Caged Heat is my favorite new addition to make specialty cocktails. Hell, I've never even made "specialty cocktails" before this. I'm a whiskey girl, and there is a recipe right on the label. But my absolute favorite mix is 1 part Caged Heat, 1 part lime juice and 2 parts mezcal poured over ice with a soda splash on top. I've made them at home, brought all the ingredients to parties, given the bottle as host gifts. And now it's the new traditional thanksgiving drink for the 2nd year in a row. It's just the right amount of spicy, sweet and flavorful. Almost everyone who has tried it with the mezcal has asked me where to get it.

This stuff if amazing. Hot, sweet, and wonderful. There is a recipe on the bottle that has become a staple in our household: 2 parts whiskey 1 part syrup 1 part lemon juice Mix with ice in a mixer and strain into glasses. A kind of muddy brown cocktail that isn't super pretty, but has a delightful balance of sweet, sour, spicey-hot, and low whiskey base notes.

Love this with my whiskey.

I love me some Caged Heat. The bourbon cocktail is divine but the mezcal & lime version on the website is amazing! Introduced me to mezcal as a fine spirit. The smoky flavor is perfectly enhanced by CH. As other reviewers have mentioned, it is the perfect host/ess gift. I have open invitations to stay with many brown liquor lovers in the south. 🙂

Caged Heat is so great because the heat is powerful but not biting - some of the homemade tinctures at craft cocktail bars are too raw and ones made with jalapeño are too earthy or smoky - they’re really good but not as versatile IMO. I make both margaritas and whiskey sours with Caged Heat - just substitute Caged Heat for the simple syrup--sometimes I rim the glass with colored decorator's sugar (orange or yellow) or chili powder mixed with salt and sugar--just to distinguish this drink from the ordinary. Next I'm going to try putting Caged Heat in my Green Chile Stew - I can never achieve that just-right, smooth-but-spicy, back-of-the-throat heat just from using jalapenos as the recipe calls for--and the advantage is I can just add it at the end so I can have it as spicy as I want without blowing my kids out!!

This product is much to sweet for my palate. It is a very syrupy mix that does add heat but the sugar overpowers the drink, maybe with half the prescribed amount used it might fair better on the taste buds.

Thank you thank you to the bartender at Sidebar in Oakland who crafted this delicious treat! I’m so sorry—I can’t remember your name!!😔! I’ve been giving this stuff away and promoting like crazy!! We make the four roses whiskey cocktail with it but am dying for more recipes and ideas!! Please share anything you have for ideas!