The Bee’s Knees is a classic prohibition-era cocktail that has to be one of my absolute favorites. It is a little sweet, a little sour, and has a great muted complexity for such a simple drink. The drink name comes from the popular old timey saying, “That’s the bee’s knees” meaning that is something great.
And when talking about great things, a honeyed gin cocktail sure is one of them. That’s why this drink has been so loved for nearly a hundred years!
The limited ingredients list for this cocktail are hopefully things most people have in their home bar. You just need 60 ml Gin, a lemon (25 ml juice, plus peel), and some honey to make this cocktail. Of course, we will be using the honey to make a quick honey syrup since raw honey doesn’t mix easily into cold drinks. This is much easier than making homemade Creme de Butterfly for my Butterfly Sour that’s for sure.
I tend to buy “craft honey” which basically is just honey made on some persons property and sold to me on the street. As I live in Ukraine there are many people selling their home-grown produce on various walkways all over the city. This makes it very easy to find fresh, organic ingredients for my cooking and cocktail making. Of course, this type of honey is almost solid as you can see in the picture so it must be turned into a honey syrup for this drink.
Mix the honey with equal parts water (1:1 ratio) and stir it in until it is syrup consistency. If you want a stronger honey flavor you have do a 2:1 ratio and heat up the water a bit to help the honey dissolve. This is what I would do if I were making a large batch for many different drinks. This time however the one-to-one ratio worked just fine.
Add all the ingredients to a shaker with ice cubes and give it good shake. Double strain into a chilled coupe or Nick and Nora glass and garnish with a lemon peel. Serve and enjoy!
The Bee’s Knees
Equipment
- Cocktail shaker (optional)
Ingredients
- 60 ml Gin London Dry
- 25 ml Lemon Juice freshly squeezed
- 25 ml Honey Syrup homemade
- 1 slice Lemon Peel garnish
Instructions
- Make the honey syrup first. In a small dish combine two tbsp of honey with two tbsp of water and whisk together (can use a fork). Measure out 25 ml which will go into the drink.
- In a shaker with ice add the gin, lemon juice, and honey syrup. Give everything a good shake and double strain into a coupe or Nick and Nora glass.
Notes
