I recommend replacing the 20 ml of honey syrup (3:1) with 10 ml of honey syrup (3:1) and 10 ml of honey ginger syrup as presented in the link at the bottom of the page.
https://www.diffordsguide.com/g/1109/honey-and-honey-syrup

You gain in intensity of the ginger and you avoid the impression of honey running down your throat

Would Honey Syrup be interchangeable with Monin Agave Syrup or would it taste different?

Blah blah blah simply excellent!
Use a Heavy Peated whisky. A Kilchoman Machir Bay or an Adberg 10 year old will do the trick without blowing your wallet.

I am not a big fan of smoky Scotch Whisky taste. This was great. Did cut back on the Honey syrup a bit, but the blending took away some of the smoky taste and made for a very, very enjoyable cocktail.

Using Monin honey syrup (for practicality more than any insistence that this is what should be done) I reduce the honey syrup to 1/2oz otherwise this comes out much too sweet overall (and while a bitter/dry preference I would not describe myself as someone who dislikes sweet drinks per se).

I've made this once with homemade ginger liquor and 1:1 honey syrup (excellent), and once with domaine de canton and 3:1 honey syrup (good but quite sweet). I will probably try 1/3 oz 3:1 honey syrup, or a less sweet ginger liqueur on the next go around.

There is a lot of hype around this new kid on the block "a modern Classic" is usually the intro
I like the flavor combos and like every cocktail that is successful, it has a cool name
need to be very careful with the ardbeg as it can over power the drink, i have also used Laphroaig with equal success
I actually garnished mine with a skewered Pontefract liquorice that was a great way of ending the drink

One of my all time favorites, but is the honey-ginger syrup recipe above really only 1:1? Seems strange since the gold rush and your version both use a 3:1 honey syrup.