Bee's Knees
The most well known version of the origin of the Bee’s Knees cocktail is straight out of the Prohibition era in the United States. The Bee's Knees cocktail, despite how strange it sounds, is actually named after the phrase “bee's knees,” which at that time meant something small and insignificant. Being born during the time of the alcohol consumption ban, it was imperative to fool the police, and the star ingredient was introduced to mask the smell of the gin in this cocktail – honey.
Sure enough, it was a foolproof idea and fooled the police successfully. F Scott Fitzgerald would approve given how much he loved the fact that the gin was undetectable if you tested one's breath after consumption. Gin might not have that strong an odour when compared to rum and whisky, but at that time, something called “bathtub gin” was widely made and had strong herbal notes with a strong citrus flavour. It was an amateur gin made at home and was considered a low-grade liquor.
While the original recipe and the creator may be lost to history, the first mention of this cocktail dates back to a book called Boothby’s World Drinks and How to Mix Them, published in 1934. Now that's out of the way, let's move away from North America for a bit, because there's another theory that disagrees with this version. The other story says Bee’s Knees was created by an Austrian fellow called Frank Meier, who lived in Paris. He was a bartender, to be precise, at Café Parisian owned by the Ritz Hotel. We're talking about 1921. He combined gin, honey and lemon juice and et voilà Bee's Knees was born along with a hoard of other cocktails.
Now, let's move away from Europe and get onboard the Titanic; no the cocktail isn't travelling. This is the third theory that exists that is connected to one of the survivors of the Titanic disaster in 1912. You might have heard of Molly Brown or Margaret Tobin Brown. One of the papers which was covering women-only bars during the year of 1929, noted that Brown, who frequented these bars, invented the cocktail during one of her trips to Paris.
If you're making this cocktail at home, it’s recommended that you use a high-quality nectar and a good label of gin; dry gin preferably. The floral notes of gin go excellently with honey; by honey we mean honey syrup, for honey's viscosity doesn't mix well with alcohol.
Ingredients
Method
- Make the honey syrup by mixing equal parts of honey and lukewarm water.
- Combine the lemon and orange juice with the honey syrup.
- Add ice, gin and the syrup-juice combination to a cocktail shaker.
- Shake vigorously then pour into any cocktail glass, preferably with a broader top.
- Garnish with a lemon or orange peel spiral.
