Demerara Syrup
Sugar syrup made with demerara rather than white sugar, which carries enough molasses to taste of something. It sweetens and adds a caramel weight at the same time, and that weight is the reason to use it.
Quick Facts
About Demerara Syrup
Flavour Profile
Primary Flavours
Tasting Notes
Deep caramel sweetness with light molasses bitterness and a rich, rounded mouthfeel. Less sharp than white sugar syrup.
Sugar With Something Left In It
Demerara is a partially refined cane sugar that keeps some of its molasses, which is where the colour and the caramel note come from. White sugar has had all of that stripped out, and its whole virtue is that it sweetens without contributing flavour. Demerara does the opposite deliberately. That makes it the wrong choice wherever a drink needs sweetness and nothing else, and the right one where the sweetener can be an ingredient rather than an adjustment.
The Two Ratios
One part sugar to one part water gives a syrup that pours and measures exactly like simple syrup, so a recipe can be followed without adjusting anything. Two parts sugar to one of water gives a rich syrup that is thicker, sweeter per millilitre, and keeps longer because of the higher sugar concentration. The rich version is common in tiki, where drinks carry a lot of citrus and need concentrated sweetness without additional volume. Whichever is used, the recipe has to know which, since they are not interchangeable by measure.
Making It
Demerara dissolves more slowly than white sugar and the crystals are larger, so warm the water rather than trying to shake it cold. Bring it to just below a simmer, stir until the liquid runs clear rather than cloudy, and take it off the heat before it reduces. Boiling drives off water and changes the ratio you carefully measured. Cool it before bottling, since a warm syrup sweats into its own container and the condensation thins the top of it.
Where It Belongs
Rum first, where the molasses in the syrup meets the molasses the spirit came from. Aged rum, bourbon and rye all take it, and an Old Fashioned built on demerara is a noticeably different drink from one built on white sugar. Tiki uses it constantly for the same reason. It is wrong in a Daiquiri made with a light rum, wrong in most gin drinks, and wrong anywhere the point is clarity, because it will colour the drink as well as flavour it.
Using Demerara Syrup
Usage
Substituted for simple syrup where the drink can take depth: rum, aged spirits and tiki builds. Use the same measure as simple syrup at 1:1, or two thirds of it if the syrup is made rich at 2:1.
Pro Tip
If a drink tastes thin, swap simple syrup for demerara before increasing sugar.
Top Tips
- Dissolve it with heat. Demerara needs more warmth than white sugar and will sit grainy without it.
- Choose the ratio deliberately. 1:1 pours and measures like simple syrup, and 2:1 is thicker and sweeter per millilitre.
- Keep it to drinks with something to meet it. In a delicate build the molasses reads as a mistake.
Possible Substitutions
- Simple syrup (lighter, less complex)
- Muscovado syrup (darker, more intense)
- Brown sugar syrup (similar but softer)
Recommended Brands
Budget Choice
Homemade from demerara sugar at 1:1: the molasses edge is the point, and it takes five minutes
Premium Choice
Bristol Syrup Co. No.3: consistent and rich, worth it if tiki drinks are a habit
Storage & Handling
Store syrup refrigerated in a sealed container. Shake before use if separation occurs.
Shelf Life
2–4 weeks refrigerated (Longer for 2:1 syrups)
Production Method
Produced by dissolving demerara sugar in water (typically 1:1 or 2:1) using gentle heat until fully dissolved, then cooled and bottled.
History & Context
Demerara sugar originates from Guyana and has long been valued for its depth and character. Demerara syrup became a staple in classic cocktails where bartenders sought richer sweetness than simple syrup could provide.