It’s been a while since I submitted for the Home Bar Awards, but when I saw September’s challenge I had an idea immediately that I couldn’t help but dive into! This month’s challenge is to create a take on the Bee’s Knees cocktail (which I had never had before). It’s in partnership with Niche Import, specifically their honey liqueur and new gin, but I didn’t use those this time. I’m sure they’re great. The stipulations were that the drink had to include both gin and honey in any form, and other than that it was completely open.
Bee’s Knees
If the name isn’t enough of a clue, this drink is a relic of the roaring ’20s. The classic recipe is 2 parts gin, 1 part lemon juice, 1 part orange juice, and a bit of honey syrup all shaken together and strained up. It debuted at the Ritz in Paris, where I’m sure it competed with the Hemingway Daiquiri on the palates of that drinking class. The classic recipe is both sweet (from the honey, but more so the orange juice) and floral. I like it, but not enough to add to the rotation; it was almost like a refined Lemon Drop for me.
Flower Farm
I immediately had an idea for this drink because I’ve been holding onto an ingredient for years now waiting for inspiration to strike. In the spring of 2016, we went to the Olympic Peninsula for the first time and stayed in the town of Sequim. Our AirBnB was essentially next door to a lavender farm that was just starting to bloom; it was gorgeous. The bees were huge and everywhere, but far too busy pollinating to care about us. We picked up a few things at the Jardin du Soleil, but the one I was most excited about was their lavender honey. It stayed in the back of my mind for over 4 years, but I never knew quite what to do with it.
For this drink, I finally broke out the jar and got cooking (literally). It’s an extremely floral honey (which makes sense), so I made a pure light syrup with 2 parts water to honey. It’s such a good syrup that I may not use the rest of the honey for anything else.
Because I had a light syrup, I could use more of it in the drink. Specifically, I used equal amounts of fresh lemon juice and syrup to balance the drink. For gin, I went with a local option: O.H.S.O.’s #gin which is quite citrusy and I find pairs really well with citrusy drinks. It doesn’t have enough juniper to push through in most drinks, and I didn’t think juniper would really work here given the honey profile. I finished off the drink with a few dashes of Fee Brothers Orange and Black Walnut Bitters to round it out a bit before shaking.
I served the drink over ice since it was a bit lighter than the traditional recipe (and I just generally prefer drinks on a rock or two most days). The honey syrup and lemon juice also reacted during the shake to add a bit of foam to the drink which was a nice, unexpected touch.
Overall, this was a perfect daisy cocktail that was extremely balanced between the sweet and sour, and the floral notes from the honey were prominent throughout. My wife said it “tasted exactly like a sweet tart” and assured me that was a compliment.