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*Difficulty Rating is based on the techniques used as well as the number, uniqueness, and the cost of ingredients
The Bees Knees is an essential drink that is conspicuously absent from just about everyone’s go-to list. Although its name evokes Gatsby-esque decadence from a bygone era, simplicity and harmony rule in this pre-prohibition cocktail.
Honey and lemon are natural companions on the palette. Honey provides a muted sweetness with botanical elements. Lemon juice balances the richness of the honey without overpowering it. The genius of the cocktail is the Gin, which simultaneously takes center stage but also supports both the other ingredients. All gins are made with various aromatic botanicals, and most are made with some citrus peel. This creates and reinforces layer upon layer of parallel flavors, and plays into all of the best aspects of each ingredient.
The gentle layering and repetition of flavors make this an allstar libation that is simple in production but complex in enjoyment.
3/4 oz
3/4 oz
2 oz
Lemon Juice
Honey Syrup
Gin
Simply ordering this cocktail conjures images of a nebulous speakeasy, dimly lit and full of nefarious, sharply dressed caricatures. “I’ll take a Bee’s Knees, Mack, and step on it before the fuzz blows this wingding and we all end up in the hoosegow.” Rightfully so, as this cocktail’s popularity skyrocketed during the 20’s, due in-part to the availability of its ingredients pre-refrigeration, and in-part to the necessity of covering up poorly made bathtub spirits that tasted worse than they sound.
One origin story is attributed to Margaret Brown, aka “Unsinkable Molly Brown”. An amazing woman, Brown was multilingual, a progressive activist in the suffragette movement, ran for state office even before being given the right to vote, and survived the sinking of the Titanic in 1912. She frequented bars in Paris throughout the twenties, where much of the golden age of mixology is rooted. From there she could have easily developed a taste for the cocktail and then introduced it back stateside during her travels.
The first listed recipe of the Bee’s Knees as a cocktail is in 1936’s The Artistry of Mixing Drinks by Frank Meier. As the first head bartender at the Café Parisian in the Ritz Paris (opened in 1921) Meier found himself in extraordinary circumstances. The Café Parisian would become a center of Parisian nightlife and an experimental proving ground for the emerging art of mixing drinks. Frequented by famous revelers such as Ernest Hemingway, James Joyce, Gertrude Stein, Pablo Picaso, and F. Scott Fitzgerald, Meier was encouraged to push the creativity envelope and produce new concoctions to satisfy the curious tastes of such brilliant artists. Not that switching honey for simple in a gin sour is ground-breaking, but simplicity can be easily overlooked when it is often the best answer.
Though it began it’s life meaning something small and insignificant, the term Bee’s Knees has come to mean the height of excellence. Whether the cocktail was born of necessity in a grimey speakeasy, or of ingenuity guided by artistic minds, it has earned it’s moniker as being best. The funkiness of the honey, the brightness of the lemon, and the complexity of the gin are too good to keep in history, and should be enjoyed regularly.