Bees Knees Cocktail Recipe and History
The Bee’s knees. A delicious honey filled cocktail with ties to a survivor of the titanic. Easy to make, interesting history, delicious to drink. What more could you want? With only three ingredients; Gin, Lemon juice and Honey. This cocktail is not only easy to make, but cheap as well. The perfect quarantine cocktail, “Quarantini” if you will. Heck, they didn’t name this cocktail the “Bee’s knees” for nothing!
Throughout this post, their is the classic Bee’s Knees cocktail recipe with instructions. In both typed and video format. A honey syrup recipe for better cocktails. Bee’s knees cocktail variations you can make and the interesting story of how this cocktail came to be.
Bees Knees Cocktail Ingredients
50ml London Dry Gin
25ml Fresh Lemon Juice
15ml Honey Syrup (or to taste) (See honey syrup recipe below)
Bee’s knees cocktail photo
How to make honey syrup
Honey, it’s great for sweetening cocktails. Not only does it help add that all important sweetness that balances a cocktail. It also helps add depth of flavour. A perfect example of this is the above cocktail. The Bee’s Knees. Try mixing it with a simple sugar syrup and you will see the difference.
The issue with honey, especially in drinks. Is that honey tends to be a bit on the viscous side. Especially when you’ve had the same bottle for awhile. Mixing it in drinks can be difficult. Honey has a tendency to stick to the sides of your shaker or sink to the bottom of your drink. It’s hard to combine with other liquid ingredients.
You may have noticed, when you mix honey with a hot drink such as tea. You don’t have that issue. That’s because the heat helps dissolve the honey. This simply doesn’t happen with cold drinks such as most cocktails, without great difficulty.
That’s where making a honey syrup comes in handy. Dissolving the honey into hot water then cooling it will create a honey syrup that has an easier density to mix with cocktails.
Honey Syrup photo
Honey syrup recipe
Ingredients
1 Part Honey
1/2 Part Warm water
Method
Stir till the honey is dissolved then store in the fridge till cooled.
It’s important to mix your syrup with warm water as opposed to boiling water. Studies have shown that mixing honey with water above 42 degrees centigrade changes the all-important ‘medicinal’ molecular structure of honey. Irrevocably, making it indigestible.
Choosing the perfect honey
Any honey lover will preach the difference in honey. Something that i couldn’t agree with more, so don’t just grab the first honey you see. Take your time to choose the perfect honey.
Darker honey Is typically tangy, with a bitter “malty” taste.
Lighter honey tends to taste more floral and mild in flavour.
Storage for honey
Honey is undemanding when it comes to storage. It will pretty much last forever stored in a cool dark place. Such as a kitchen cupboard. But not the fridge. The fridge can be to cold and crystallise your honey. Your honey syrup however, will be perfectly fine in the fridge.
Top tip
Local honey will always be your best bet. It will give a sense of locality in your cocktails.
Bees Knees Cocktail History
The Bee’s knees was thought to of emerged during America’s prohibition era. The honey and lemon was added to help mask and balance the poor quality flavour from the illegal, backstreet bathtub gin from this time.
However, more recently, cocktail historian Jared Brown uncovered an article dated the 22nd of April 1929 from an edition of the Standard Union reporting on the latest trends in women’s only bars in Paris, France. This article pointed the Bees knees origins to wealthy American millionairess partying in Paris.
The second to last paragraph read: “The Bees Knees” is an invention of Mrs.JJ Brown of Denver and Paris, widow of the famous miner, and is a rather sweet combination including honey and lemon”
Molly Brown and the Titanic Cocktail Story
So, who was Mrs.JJ Brown? Margaret Tobin Brown was a wealthy America woman nicknamed “Unsinkable Molly Brown”. Why the nickname? This was due to the fact she survived the titanic disaster in 1912. Yes, the Titanic disaster.
Like all classic cocktails, origins are always hard to track down. There tends to be numerous stories of how cocktails came to be. It’s a lot of which story do you want to believe the most. In this case, I prefer to believe it was invented by a wealthy widow living it up in France after marrying a rich gold minor and surviving the titanic. Rather then the same old “Invented Somewhere during prohibition to mask poor quality booze” story we hear all to many times.
Bee’s knees cocktail photo
Bee’s Knees Cocktail Variations
The Bee’s Knees is the perfect base for a variety of cocktail creations. A simple variation is to switch out the gin for another spirit. Vodka makes for easy drinking. Try switching out the gin for rum and you have a “Honeysuckle”.
Adding a dash of orange juice to your Bee’s Knees makes for easy drinking if the original cocktail tastes a bit strong for your palette.
Try experimenting with different juices for completely different types of cocktails. A dash of pineapple juice will add a tropical feel to your Bee’s knees. A dash of cucumber or apple juice will add a garden fresh, refreshing feeling to your Bee’s knees.
If the original recipe suits your taste, but you would like to add to the flavours. Try infusing your honey syrup with other ingredients. Whilst mixing up your honey and warm water, add rose petals and cardamom for a floral, citrusy honey syrup. Or perhaps cut peppers for a spicy twist to your Bee’s Knees.
Want to make the Cat’s Whiskers ? Use Old Tom Gin.
Bee’s knees cocktail photo
Bees Knees Cocktail Recipe
Bees Knees Cocktail
Ingredients
Instructions
- Shake all ingredients with ice
- Fine strain into a chilled coupe
- Garnish with a lemon peel
Notes
Honey syrup recipe
Ingredients
- 1 Part Honey
- 1/2 Part Warm water
Method
- Stir till the honey is dissolved then store in the fridge till cooled.
Nutrition Facts
Calories
122.47Fat
1.98 gSat. Fat
0.66 gCarbs
13.64 gFiber
0.12 gNet carbs
13.52 gSugar
12.35 gProtein
13.25 gSodium
37.14 mgCholesterol
34.59 mgThe nutritional information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
