Manuka Maple Sour Cocktail

Written by
Colleen Graham
Colleen Graham is a cocktail expert, professional bartender, and cookbook author with over 10 years of experience in the food-writing world.
Learn about The Spruce Eats' Editorial Process
Colleen Graham
Updated 05/13/21
Manuka and Maple Sour with 42 Below Honey Vodka
Nicholas Eveleigh/Photodisc/Getty Images
Prep: 3 mins
Cook: 0 mins
Total: 3 mins
Serving: 1 serving
Yield: 1 cocktail
Nutritional Guidelines (per serving)
159 Calories
0g Fat
18g Carbs
0g Protein
See Full Nutritional Guidelines Hide Full Nutritional Guidelines
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Nutrition Facts
Servings: 1
Amount per serving
Calories 159
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 0g 0%
Saturated Fat 0g 0%
Cholesterol 0mg 0%
Sodium 3mg 0%
Total Carbohydrate 18g 7%
Dietary Fiber 1g 3%
Total Sugars 15g
Protein 0g
Vitamin C 20mg 98%
Calcium 29mg 2%
Iron 0mg 1%
Potassium 82mg 2%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)

The manuka maple sour is a pure delight and a great cocktail for autumn. It is simple to make and features a fun honey-flavored vodka.

The star of this cocktail is 42 Below Honey Vodka and this is a signature recipe for the brand. Not only is it a perfect use for this unique vodka, it's also the ideal example of a truly great cocktail.

The recipe includes the base liquor accented with a touch of sweet, sour, and bitter, all of the elements that define a cocktail. The result is a perfectly balanced drink that is modern but has a style that rivals any of the best classic cocktails.

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Ingredients

Steps to Make It

  1. Gather the ingredients.

  2. In a cocktail shaker filled with ice, add the honey vodka, lemon juice, maple syrup, and bitters.

  3. Shake well.

  4. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

  5. Garnish with a lemon peel. Serve and enjoy.

Honey Vodka

This recipe was created by 42 Below Vodka to show off their honey-flavored vodka. The New Zealand distiller was among the first to debut the flavor and it remains one of the best brands for it. The balance they found between the alcohol and the sweet manuka honey is definitely hard to beat. Above all your other options, try this cocktail with this vodka.

If you cannot find 42 Below, you do have options. Among the best are the honey vodkas from small distilleries and a couple in the U.S. are producing fine examples. These include Barr Hill Vodka from Caledonia Spirits in Vermont and Spring 44 out of Colorado.

You know 42 Below hit a great flavor with honey because in recent years a number of the big names in vodka released a bottle in this flavor. Brands like Absolut, Smirnoff, and Stolichnaya now offer a honey vodka. These may not be our top recommendations, though you could certainly try them.

In past experience, the bigger distillers tend to over-sweeten their flavored vodkas. In contrast, craft distillers tend to take the time to get them absolutely perfect. If you do pick up a sweeter honey vodka, you might need to back off a bit on the syrup used in the cocktail.

How Strong Is the Manuka Maple Sour?

Typically, a cocktail that has only one liquor is a relatively mild drink and this recipe follows suit. 42 Below Honey is bottled at 80 proof rather than 70 proof, which is standard for flavored vodkas. This small difference makes the drink a little more powerful.


If you follow the recipe, you can expect your manuka maple sour to weigh in right around 16 percent ABV (32 proof). While it's not the lightest drink, it is significantly less potent than liquor-only cocktails like the vodka martini. Don't let this fool you though. Sweeter drinks tend to make us drink more, so it's still wise to take it easy with this one.