In a classic Bee's Knees cocktail, honey replaces sugar syrup as the drink's sweetener. The cocktail combines gin, lemon juice, and honey, creating a balance of botanical, tart, and rounded sweet flavors.
The Bee's Knees emerged in the United States during Prohibition, when citrus and sweeteners were also useful for masking the harshness of poor-quality homemade gin. Its name comes from the 1920s slang expression “the bee's knees,” meaning something excellent or outstanding.
Honey is commonly loosened with warm water to make a pourable honey syrup before mixing. This helps it blend evenly with cold lemon juice and gin; straight honey can settle or cling to the shaker.
The drink is sometimes confused with other gin sours, but its defining sweetener is honey. The exact gin, lemon-to-honey ratio, and garnish can vary by recipe, while the three-part structure remains recognizable.