About ten years ago I bought this vintage “bar aid”, not that I needed any help drinking, I just thought it was cute. It was a little black box numbered 1 through 80 in white writing, and each number had a drink name next to it. In the center of the box was a little dial, so you could turn to the drink number and the recipe would appear. Well, as you know, this drink of the week thing was really becoming a problem for me. I was stumped. And then I remembered the bar aid, and it really helped. Although most of the drink recipes were quite old fashioned. And, many of them had eggs, or Benedictine - - neither of which sounded like things I want to drink for enjoyment. One recipe did catch my eye, number 13, The Bee’s Knees.
Bar Aid, #13 Bee’s Knees recipe: (I have to do it from memory, because the damn dial just broke and it is stuck on #5, Alexander’s Sister)
1 jigger of gin
1 teaspoon honey
juice of half a lemon
Shake well with ice and strain into glass.
Ok, so there are a few problems with this recipe, as my friend Lisa and I found out. First, when you pour honey into a cold liquid, it coagulates and all the stirring in the world won’t change that. Second, it’s missing a mixer (tonic, anyone?). And, third, it tastes like shit.
So we left the recipe on the drawing room floor, or better yet, in the kitchen sink and moved on, but the next day I woke up and I couldn’t stop thinking about The Bee’s Knees. It had definite drink of the week potential and I would not rest until The Bee’s Knees was just that.
First, Gin. I mean come on. This drink is just begging for gin.
Next, how to mitigate the honey mass: I poured two mini bottles of tonic water (20 oz total) into a glass cocktail shaker. It probably helps if they aren’t super cold, although mine were cold and this method worked. Then, I drizzled the honey (4 tablespoons . . . a lot, but it’s so good) into the soda, while at the same time creating a tonic water vortex with a stir stick, so that the honey never has a chance to do anything but dissolve into deliciousness.
Then I added the juice of an entire lemon and two shots of gin (this recipe makes 2 drinks, because you should share this with someone you really like). Pour that mixture over two glasses of ice, add to each, a tablespoon of maraschino cherry juice and garnish with two cherries and a lemon slice.
Drink and Enjoy.
The Bee’s Knees
20 oz tonic water
2 oz gin
4 tablespoons honey
Juice of one lemon
2 tablespoons maraschino cherry juice
4 maraschino cherries
Lemon slices for garnish
Instructions above.
PS. If anyone is interested . . .
Bar Aid, #5 Alexander’s Sister
1/2 Dry Gin
1/4 Crème de Menthe
1/4 Cream
Shake well with ice and strain into glass.
3 comments:
this blog is the bees knees AND the pigs wings! the concept of drink of the week is superb. also...that butter post was hilarious.
i love your blog! and your beautiful polaroids. my friends and i also created a Bees Knees. we made a simple syrup infused with lavender, but also used gin, lemon juice and honey. i forget if we used tonic or plain water- but the lavender syrup is amazing!
Have to try it! I LOVE honey and use to sell it at craft shows. Never knew you could make a drink with it. The #5Alexanders Sister sounds like an old version of a Grasshopper. Green Creme de Mint, White Creme de Cacao and light cream. Which is a very tasty also.
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