Brown vs White sugar

Contrary to popular belief, brown sugar really isn’t better for you or more ‘traditional’. Sugars are different shades of brown depending on how much molasses they contain. Processing sugar cane or sugar beet will give you both the naturally white sugar crystals and the dark liquid molasses.

A sugar will be brown because it either HASN’T had all the molasses washed off during processing, or HAS had molasses reintroduced to it after processing.

There are indeed some minerals contained within the molasses, which may lead you to think that brown sugars are somehow healthier. However, the amount contained is not nearly enough to have any meaningful impact on your health.

So, the difference simply comes down to the taste. Molasses’ rich and bittersweet flavour gives brown sugar a distinctive character and stickier consistency. The darker the sugar the more molasses are present and therefore the greater the impact it has on the sugar’s flavour. 

Therefore, if a cocktail calls for sugar, or granulated sugar you should be using a white sugar. This is traditional for most cocktails where sugar is used, such as Caipirinhas and Mojitos. Simply put, using a brown sugar in these drinks is wrong if you want to make the classic recipe. However, if you want to put a twist on a classic cocktail, this is a subtle way to do so.