Honey is our ingredient of the season, you can see some of our previous honey posts here.

Of course we’re starting the season with a cocktail, and there’s a good reason for it. Moms need cocktails and this cocktail has the cutest name. 

The bee’s knees is really the simplest of honey cocktails. It’s just gin, lemon, and honey.

The phrase “the bee’s knees” is an early 20th century phrase that meant “the best” or “excellent”.

Bees Knees

This is a Prohibition-era cocktail, and it’s said that the lemon juice and honey were used to mask the poor quality of homemade gins. Admittedly, the traditional recipe for the bee’s knees does not produce my favorite cocktail, but I’m pretty sure that if I was forced to drink bathtub gin, then I’d take what I could get.

• 2 oz gin
• 3/4 oz fresh lemon juice
• 3/4 oz honey simple syrup (1:1 ratio of honey and water)

Place the gin, lemon juice, and honey in a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake until cool, pour into a cocktail glass, and serve with a garnish of lemon peel.

Personally, I wanted more sweetness and more honey flavor, so after taking a first sip, I liberally added a bit more of the honey simple syrup to my glass. I won’t tell if you do the same.