Yep!  I am officially obsessed with the 1920′s, veteran readers already know that.  Lately I have been reading many books and doing various research on prohibition cocktails.  A few nights ago I even tried Chartreuse, a herb cordial similar to Absinthe, that was popular back in the day.

Because of my passion I have decided to embark on a new journey, a prohibition cocktail journey!  I am determined to try as many prohibition cocktails as I can stand (I don’t like bourbon, scotch, whiskey).

My journey will be a combination of homemade cocktails as well as cocktails ordered at bars.  My journey begins at home with the Bee’s Knees…

I have enjoyed the taste and sophistication of the Bee’s Knee’s at two different speakeasy style bars, but this post is about making it at home.

The history of the “Bee’s Knees”

The “Bee’s Knees” is one of my favorite terms to use now!  It is a great substitution for saying something is fabulous, cool, and awesome!  I mainly use it when describing food and clothing.  So how did a drink get named after it?

The cocktail combination, like many in the 1920′s, was put together to disguise the terrible taste of the “bathtub gin” at the time.  Using a combination of honey and lemon, it is named after the honey component, hence the “bee’s”.

If you think about it, the Bee’s Knees is a twist on the Lemon Drop Martini.  You use honey for sweetness and use gin instead of vodka.

To prepare this dish at home, I first had to make a ‘honey syrup’.  If you use regular honey is will not dissolve, so you have to make a syrup of it (A simple combination of honey, water, and a hint of vanilla syrup boiled for ten minutes and cooled to room temperature).

Now to make my simple cocktail!

In a cocktail shaker filled with ice cubes, I added 2 ounce of gin, 1 ounce of honey syrup, and one fresh squeezed lemon.

The delightful concoction is strained into a cocktail glass and ready to enjoy! However… I was in the mood for a little bubbly the night I made this cocktail, so I added a splash of Prosecco Champagne!

Voila!

My Bee’s Knees was perfected!

Now what should I do with my leftover Honey Syrup?  ;)