Bee's Knees
Gin, lemon and honey shaken cold. A gin sour where honey's floral roundness replaces plain sugar.
- MethodShaken
- GlassCoupe
- IceNone (served up)
- Strengthabout 16.0% ABV
- BaseGin
- Tastesour, sweet
Recipe
| 60 ml 2 oz | London dry gin |
| 22.5 ml ¾ oz | Fresh lemon juice |
| 22.5 ml ¾ oz | Honey syrup (3:1 honey to water) |
Garnish. A lemon peel expressed over the drink and dropped in.
Method
- Chill a coupe.
- Shake the gin, lemon juice and honey syrup hard with ice for 12 to 15 seconds.
- Double strain into the coupe and finish with the lemon peel.
About the Bee's Knees
The Bee's Knees is a gin sour sweetened with honey. Honey gives a softer, rounder sweetness than sugar, with a floral note that suits gin's botanicals. The name is 1920s slang for something excellent.
History
Documented
The drink belongs to the late 1920s. Recipes appear in Paris and American bar books around 1929 and 1930, and Frank Meier of the Hôtel Ritz bar in Paris included it in his own book, The Artistry of Mixing Drinks (1934).
Legend and lore
It is often said the drink was made to hide the taste of bad Prohibition gin. That is a guess applied to many drinks of the period, and the evidence points to Paris as much as to America. A 1929 newspaper report credited the Denver socialite Margaret Brown, but that attribution is not confirmed elsewhere.
Disputed or unclear: The first book to print the recipe is disputed between a 1929 Paris cocktail book crediting Frank Meier and an early 1930s edition of William Boothby's World Drinks.
Variations
- Gold Rush. Bourbon in place of gin; a modern classic from New York in the 2000s.
- Penicillin. A Scotch drink with honey-ginger syrup and a float of peated whisky.
- Brown Derby. Bourbon, grapefruit juice and honey.
Bartender's notes
- Honey straight from the jar seizes on ice. Loosen it first with warm water (three parts honey to one of water).
- Different honeys taste very different; a mild one lets the gin show.
