🍯 Bee's Knees

Gin, fresh lemon, and honey syrup — the Prohibition sour that never went out of style.

4 min
Serves 1
Shaken
Coupe
Ingredients
  • 2 oz London Dry Gin
  • ¾ oz Fresh lemon juice
  • ¾ oz Honey syrup (2:1 honey to warm water, stirred until dissolved)
  • Lemon peel to garnish
Method
  1. 1
    Make honey syrupMix 2 parts honey with 1 part warm water and stir until fully dissolved. This can be made in batches and stored in the fridge for two weeks.
  2. 2
    Chill your coupePlace a coupe in the freezer for 5 minutes.
  3. 3
    Combine and shakeAdd gin, lemon juice, and honey syrup to a shaker with ice. Shake hard for 12 seconds.
  4. 4
    StrainDouble-strain into the chilled coupe.
  5. 5
    GarnishExpress a lemon peel over the surface to release the oils, rub it around the rim, and either discard or drop it in.

The Honey Makes the Difference

The Bee's Knees was created during Prohibition to mask the rough, unpleasant taste of bootleg bathtub gin. The honey did double duty — sweetening the drink while also softening the harsh spirit. 'The bee's knees' was 1920s slang for 'the best thing around', and the cocktail lived up to its name.

The key technique is making a proper honey syrup rather than using raw honey. Raw honey is too thick and viscous to mix properly in a cold cocktail — it clumps and sinks. The 2:1 honey-to-water ratio creates a fluid syrup that distributes evenly and gives the drink its distinctive rich sweetness.

Variations

🌶️ Spicy Bee's Knees

Add 2 slices of fresh jalapeño to the shaker before adding the other ingredients. Muddle lightly, then shake. The honey softens the heat beautifully.

🌿 Lavender Bee's Knees

Use lavender-infused honey syrup instead of plain. Add a sprig of fresh lavender to the honey syrup while heating for 10 minutes, then strain.

🍋 Ginger Bee's Knees

Replace half the honey syrup with ginger syrup (or use ginger-honey syrup). Adds a warming spice that works extremely well with the gin botanicals.

Related
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