Levels of Sweetness Explained

You've probably made plenty of cocktails and probably drank more. What makes your balanced cocktails so balanced? Sugar against sour — but not all sugar is the same. Today we talk levels of sweetness and explain how that works.

There are many different types of sweet, and when you understand where your "sweet" lands on the BRIX scale, you'll know how well your cocktail will balance when working in a 2:1:1 ratio — or any other recipe ratio.

If you're working within the realm of a margarita and the recipe uses simple syrup, you'll find agave nectar makes the drink sweeter than simple syrup would. So you'll want to pull down your sugars and do a 2:1:1/2 where you have 1 oz lime and only 1/2 oz agave.

Sugar Substitutes Are Too Sweet

When you're looking to use Equal or Splenda, you'll find the balance falls out of the drink extremely quickly. Equal is 200x the sweetness of sugar, and Splenda is 600x the sweetness of sugar — this will highly impact your cocktail. Consider 1 oz of simple syrup and 1 oz of lime juice and how well it works together. How does one figure out how much Splenda is needed when it's 600 times sweeter? It becomes very difficult.

We suggest using real sugars. If you need a diet plan, drink fewer cocktails. If you plan to drink 5 diet cocktails, drink 2 regular ones slightly slower.

Why Pick Different Sweeteners?

Each sweet syrup brings a different flavor profile to your cocktail. A maple syrup has a rich, deep, dark flavor versus a standard simple syrup. There are real benefits to pairing a light rum with a turbinado or brown sugar over standard white sugar — that depth of character can make for a far more interesting cocktail.

Remember to keep in mind your sugar and its BRIX — its overall sweetness level — when working it into a cocktail, especially when substituting for a different sweetener.