Bee's Knees with a dried lemon wheel.
The Bee's Knees is what the gin sour wanted to be all along. Honey instead of sugar, lemon for the lift, and nothing else getting in the way. It was a Prohibition drink built to make rough gin drinkable, but with a good bottle it turns into something quietly excellent.
The garnish is where most people undo it. A fresh lemon slice on the rim goes limp and bitter before you are halfway down. A dried wheel sits on the surface, holds its colour, and gives the nose a hit of lemon oil with every sip.
What you'll need
- 60ml gin
- 22ml fresh lemon juice
- 22ml honey syrup (3:1 honey to warm water)
- 1 dried lemon wheel
- Ice, to shake
How to make it
- Stir the honey with a little warm water first so it actually mixes. Cold honey just sinks to the bottom and sulks.
- Add the gin, lemon juice, and honey syrup to a shaker with ice.
- Shake hard for ten seconds. You want it cold and a touch frothy.
- Strain into a chilled coupe.
- Float a dried lemon wheel on top. It will sit flat and bright, right where a fresh slice would have sunk.
Why dried earns its place
Honey and lemon are a delicate balance, and a wet fresh slice leaching juice into the glass tips it sour before you have finished. The dried wheel adds aroma, not liquid, so the drink tastes the same at the last sip as it did at the first.
Use the Lemon jar, about 25 wheels, enough to keep a season of sours and spritzes properly dressed.