July 2020 |

Bee’s Knees | An Easy 3-Ingredient Classic Cocktail with Honey and Gin

by corrie.pennington / July 13, 2020

The Bee's Knees cocktail recipe has been around since the Prohibition. This classic cocktail has only three simple ingredients, making it the perfect cocktail for anyone looking to get into mixing drinks at home.

The Bee’s Knees cocktail is a classic drink that’s been around since the early 1900s. In recent years, with the rise of craft cocktails and home bartending, it’s regaining popularity. I’m glad it’s getting a lot of recognition these days.

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There are a lot of classic cocktails out there that I’d never heard of prior to making my own drinks at home. I’d heard of a Daiquiri, an Old Fashioned, a French 75, and a Whiskey Sour. But now that I’m taking this mixology hobby more seriously, I’ve discovered other classics like the South Side and the New York Sour, and now the Bee’s Knees.

I looked up the history of the Bee’s Knees cocktail and, like so many other classic drinks, it’s got a great story. And again, like so many others, its origins date back to the Prohibition.

During the Prohibition-era, referring to something as “the bee’s knees” was a common way to say something was the best. And you could say that this cocktail recipe was the bee’s knees at covering up the smell and taste of bathtub gin.

Wait- what? Bathtub gin? Remember that this recipe dates back to the Prohibition… which means that alcohol was outlawed. With no legal way to mass-produce liquor, innovative Americans came up with alternatives. Some was made in bathtubs, yes, but that’s really just a term to refer to illicit, homemade alcohol.

Gin was the easiest of the liquors to make, which is why there are so many Prohibition-era cocktails that use gin. It was really hard to mimic the flavors of bourbon and scotch since they couldn’t risk aging anything for fear of authorities discovering their stores. (Some people actually used dead rats, rotten meat, and wood tar in attempts to emulate these distinct flavors… yeah…) If you’re interested in reading more about bathtub liquor, check out this article by the Smithsonian and this one by Prohibition: An Interactive History (super cool site, btw).

There are several different recipes out there for a Bee’s Knees cocktail. While all recipes utilize the same 3 ingredients, there are a lot of different ratios. I tried a few and found I like this one the most. I found that using equal parts lemon juice to honey syrup allowed the honey flavor to come through. Feel free to play around with the ratios a bit to see what you like.

I saw the name of this cocktail pop up somewhere in my Instagram feed a while back and it instantly caught my attention. I love bees (all insects, really).

I really do love bugs and creepy crawlies. When I was little, my favorite past time was looking for (and collecting…) rollie pollies, worms, and beetles outside with the neighborhood kids. And when the weather didn’t allow for that, I’d get out my giant Sterlite bin filled with plastic bugs and set them up all over my room and play “insect explorer”.

One day, I’d love to add some bees to our little homestead out here in the country. How cool would it be to make a Bee’s Knees using honey my own bees made? But don’t worry, I don’t plan on adding bathtub gin to my liquor collection anytime soon.

Ingredients for a Bee’s Knees Cocktail

2 oz gin
3/4 oz lemon juice
3/4 oz honey simple syrup (1:1 honey to water)

How to Make a Bee’s Knees Cocktail

Add all three ingredients to a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake well. Strain into a coupe glass. Garnish with a lemon twist.

See? Easy.

Bee’s Knees

The Bee's Knees is a classic gin cocktail with honey and lemon juice.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 3 mins

Course Drinks

Servings 1

Ingredients

2 oz gin
¾ oz honey simple syrup (see note for recipe)
¾ oz freshly-squeezed lemon juice

Instructions

Add all ingredients to a cocktail shaker with ice.
Shake well, about 20 seconds.
Strain into a coupe glass.
Garnish with a lemon twist.

Notes

To make the honey simple syrup, heat 1 part water to 1 part honey until the honey dissolves into the water. This makes it much easier to incorporate honey into an ice-cold drink. For more information about honey simple syrup, you can read my post about it.

Keyword gin, honey, honey simple syrup, lemon, lemon juice

If you enjoyed this drink, you’re sure to like my spiced honey French 75. \\

vodka

Dirty Shirley | The Boozy Version of a Childhood Favorite

by corrie.pennington / July 7, 2020

The Dirty Shirley is the boozy version of the Shirley Temple, a childhood favorite of many. To make a Dirty Shirley, you'll only need 4 ingredients: vodka, Sprite, grenadine syrup, and a maraschino cherry.

I bet you’ve heard of the infamous mocktail called the Shirley Temple. It’s an iconic drink and rightfully so. But today I’m talking about the grown-up version: the Dirty Shirley.

The Shirley Temple is *the* quintessential mocktail in my opinion. This famous nonalcoholic drink has maintained its popularity from its creation in the 1930s. There are several stories about who created this drink and where it was created, but all versions are clear about who it was created for: Shirley Temple.

While we don’t know which bartender in which restaurant created it originally, we do know that someone somewhere made Shirley Temple her own special drink while she was eating dinner out with her parents. Some say that Shirley was whining a bit because her parents got to enjoy special drinks like Old Fashioneds and some leave that anecdote out. Personally I envision Shirley politely raising her little hand and asking the waiter for her own special concoction. Fill in the unrecorded details as you want.

Just as the exact history of the Shirley Temple drink is a bit fuddled, the exact recipe is unclear, too. Some recipes use lemon-lime soda while others use ginger ale. There’s even a recipe out there that uses orange juice. However, there are two non-negotiable ingredients: grenadine and a maraschino cherry.

But what is grenadine? It’s a bar ingredient easily recognized by many thanks to its bright-red hue, and yet few people I’ve talked to know what it is. The common assumption is that it’s a cherry-flavored syrup. This is probably due in large part to its connection with the Shirley Temple which is always garnished with a cherry. It’s an understandable assumption. But grenadine is a pomegranate-flavored syrup. Yep. Google it.

I LOVED ordering Shirley Temples as a kid. I remember them being a really special treat when we would go out to eat. And while I would still definitely slam a Shirley Temple now, a Dirty Shirley is more my style.

When you make your Dirty Shirley, you can make it with your liquor of choice, but I opt for vodka. Vodka’s got a really clean, bright taste that blends in nicely. If you’re not wanting to taste the alcohol in a drink, use vodka.

A quick note about grenadine brands. The most commonly-known and widely-available brand is Rose’s. It’s what I first bought. But over the years, I’ve become exposed to more brands and I’ve also raised my standards a bit. Rose’s will do if that’s what you have. BUT if you haven’t invested in any grenadine yet, you should get Barsmith’s grenadine or Liber & Co’s grenadine. Both of them use real pomegranate juice, pure cane sugar (not corn syrup), and only use natural coloring. Barsmith’s ingredients are even non-GMO.

Barsmith is the brand in my fridge now and its definitely more tart and less red than Rose’s. I really like it. When I run out, I’m gonna give Liber & Co a try. I’ve heard great things about their other syrups so I’m sure their grenadine is great, too.

Feel free to experiment with this classic Dirty Shirley recipe. Add some lime juice or orange juice for a fun twist. I cut the grenadine amount in half and subbed in some of my cherry pit simple syrup. It was reeally good. You can also try making it with lemon-lime La Croix or Spindrift if you’re trying to watch your calories and sugar intake

If you make a Dirty Shirley, be sure to tag on me on Instagram –> @girlandtonic_

Ingredients for a Dirty Shirley

1 1/2 oz vodka
3/4 oz grenadine
8 oz (1 cup) lemon-lime soda or ginger ale
cherry, to garnish

How to Make a Dirty Shirley

Add ice to a Collins glass or another tall glass. Pour in the vodka, the soda, and the grenadine. Stir to combine. Garnish with a cherry. I used a fresh cherry, but the traditional recipe calls for a maraschino cherry.