It’s citrus season! Which means it’s the perfect time of year to enjoy this lemony-fresh Bee’s Knees cocktail. My local grocery store always sets up a veritable shrine to citrus come mid-January and it’s honestly pretty irresistible (Central Market for my Texas peeps who know what’s up).
Don’t you just love looking at honeycomb? It also makes for a delicious addition to a charcuterie board. Sometimes you just gotta level up on your charc (and cocktail) game.
The first time I ever tried a Bee’s Knees was at a local bar here in San Antonio when my friends and I were doing the usual ritual of passing our drinks around so everyone could try them. I eventually got my hands on this pretty little lemony drink and remember thinking that I had to make it at home sometime. And here we are! It’s a simple, classic kind of drink that anyone can master. So give it a try!
Bee’s Knees Cocktail
Ingredients
- 4 oz gin
- 2 oz honey simple syrup, (see recipe below)
- 1 1/2 oz fresh lemon juice
- Optional: 2 thyme sprigs
Instructions
- Add gin, honey simple, lemon juice, and thyme sprigs to a shaker. Add 6-8 ice cubes, then shake for 5-10 seconds until shaker is icy.
- Divide evenly into 2 couple glasses.
- For an extra fresh lemon zip, zest two 2-3 inch pieces of lemon peel, then rub the rim of the coupe glasses with the peel. Finish by twisting the peels over the drinks and dropping the twist into the drink before serving. (This is called "expressing" a lemon.)
Nutrition Information
For my macro trackers out there, I wasn’t able to create a My Fitness Pal barcode for this recipe since I would have had to decide for you whether to put the alcohol calories in as carbs or fats – that’s up to you! The 13 grams of carbs listed here are just for the sugar in the honey and lemon juice. For my non-macro trackers, here’s more info on what I’m talking about.
Honey Simple Syrup
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup honey, (4 oz)
- 1/2 cup water, (4 oz)
Instructions
- Add honey and water to a small sauce pan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Lower heat to a simmer and stir until honey is completely dissolved into the water. Allow to cool.
