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WhatDrink

Syrups

Sugar

  • Syrup / Sweetener
  • 76 drinks

What is Sugar?

Sugar is a basic cocktail sweetener used to balance acidity, bitterness and strong spirits. It appears in classic drinks as granulated sugar, muddled sugar, rims, syrup bases and older recipes before liquid sweeteners became common.

Is this for me?

Choose this if…

  • ✓You want to add sweetness and flavour depth to a drink.

Skip if…

  • ✗You prefer dry, unsweetened cocktails.

At a Glance

49 kcalCalories
12.8gSugar
12.8gCarbs
Syrup / SweetenerType
76Recipes

Ingredient nutrition is approximate and varies by brand, recipe and preparation.

What does Sugar taste like?

Clean, direct sweetness with no added aroma. Sugar supports citrus, bitters, mint, whiskey, rum, brandy, coffee, cream and fruit, especially when a drink needs sweetness without extra flavour.

Ways to use sugar

Cocktails (37)Punches (13)Mocktails (12)Coffee cocktails (3)Shots (2)

Flavour profile

Sugar · primarySweet · primary

Recipes using this

Observed quantities

Observed in single-serve recipes: middle half 5.00–29.79 ml; median 15.00 ml.

In the measured recipes in this dataset — from 59 observed uses.

Scoped nutrition

Calories (per 100 ml)
329
Sugar (per 100 ml)
85 g
Carbs (per 100 ml)
85 g

Ingredient nutrition is approximate and varies by brand, recipe and preparation.

Diet compatibility

  • Gluten-FreeCompatible
  • KetoNot compatible
  • Low-CarbNot compatible
  • Low-SugarNot compatible
  • VeganCompatible
  • VegetarianCompatible

Based on the listed ingredient only — a public recipe facet, not medical, allergy or coeliac advice. Specific brands and preparation can change compatibility.

Reviewed substitutes

  • Simple SyrupSimilar neutral sweetness.

Reviewed ingredient substitution guidance. Results can vary by brand, quantity and preparation. These substitutions have not been tested in every individual recipe.

Commonly observed with

WaterOrangeCoffeeVanilla ExtractMilkRed WineLemon JuiceMaraschino Cherry

Observed co-use in the reviewed recipe corpus — not a universal pairing recommendation.

Trust & methodology

Canonical ingredient/component authority assembled from reviewed identity, recipe, flavour, nutrition, diet and substitution evidence. Observed quantities and co-use patterns are descriptive, not prescriptions or universal recommendations.

Evidence last updated: 2026-07-17T12:21:53.703091+00:00

Drink counts and recipe data are based on published WhatDrink recipes. Figures may vary as new recipes are added.

Sugar — common questions

What are the most popular cocktails made with Sugar?
Top-ranked cocktails made with Sugar include Absinthe Drip Cocktail, Acapulco, Caipirinha. Rankings are based on recipe quality and data completeness.