Cocktail basics. A simple classic is the Sour - spirit, sugar, sour (acid), water. Shake the hell out of some simple, lemon or lime juice, and gin, and you have a perfectly acceptable simple cocktail format. It’s a nice way to see how your gin bottle holds up to the bright acidity of fresh lemon or lime. Also, a nice way to experiment with just how much sugar you really want in your drink. Now take that sugar addition and make it honey syrup. My personal preference is a 1:1 honey to water syrup, which lets the nuances of the honey shine as an element in the cocktail. Now you have The Bee’s Knees.
Here’s a little Jeffrey Morgenthaler, a favorite booze writer of mine, on the Bee’s Knees and his build for it. My build is below.
The Bee’s Knees, Seth’s build. No double straining on this one but it’s my recommendation. The ice chips just detract from getting into the nuances of this cocktail.
2 oz London Dry-style Gin
0.75 oz 1:1 Honey syrup
0.75 oz fresh squeezed and strained lemon juice
Add ingredients to a shaker, fill with ice, and shake hard for 20 seconds. Double strain into a chilled coupe glass. Garnish with a lemon or orange peel, after expressing it over the glass and rubbed on the rim.
