IBA official cocktail | |
---|---|
Type | Cocktail |
Base spirit | |
Served | Straight up: chilled, without ice |
Standard garnish | Garnish with lemon peel |
Standard drinkware | Cocktail glass |
IBA specified ingredients† |
|
Preparation | Combine gin, honey syrup and lemon juice into a mixing tin. Shake. Strain into chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with lemon peel. |
† Bee's knees recipe at International Bartenders Association |
A bees knees (or bee's knees) is a Prohibition era cocktail made with gin, fresh lemon juice, and honey. It is served shaken and chilled, often with a lemon twist.
The name comes from prohibition-era slang meaning "the best". [1]
The bee's knees cocktail has unclear origins. It was possibly invented by Frank Meier, an Austrian-born, part Jewish bartender who was the first head bartender at the Ritz in Paris in 1921, when its Cafe Parisian opened its doors. [2]
A 1929 news article attributes the cocktail to Margaret Brown, an American socialite. [3]
In 2017, Barr Hill Gin started an annual event called Bee's Knees Week to promote their product. Bee's Knees Week is the largest sustainability event in the spirits industry, focused on pollinator protection. [4] [5] A 2023 article published by The New York Times credited an increase in the cocktail's popularity in part to Bee's Knees Week. [6]
The Tom Collins is a Collins cocktail made from gin, lemon juice, sugar, and carbonated water. First memorialized in writing in 1876 by Jerry Thomas, "the father of American mixology", this "gin and sparkling lemonade" drink is typically served in a Collins glass over ice with a cherry garnish. A non-alcoholic "Collins mix" mixer is produced, enjoyed by some as a soft drink.
The Long Island iced tea, or Long Island ice tea, is an IBA official cocktail, typically made with vodka, tequila, light rum, triple sec, gin, and a splash of cola. Despite its name, the cocktail does not typically contain iced tea, but is named for having the same amber hue as iced tea.
The martini is a cocktail made with gin and vermouth, and garnished with an olive and/or a lemon twist. Over the years, the martini has become one of the best-known mixed alcoholic beverages. A common variation, the vodka martini, uses vodka instead of gin for the cocktail's base spirit.
A cosmopolitan, or, informally, a cosmo, is a cocktail made with vodka, Cointreau, cranberry juice, and freshly squeezed or sweetened lime juice.
The negroni is a cocktail, made of equal parts gin, vermouth rosso, and Campari, generally served on the rocks, and commonly garnished with an orange slice or orange peel. It is considered an apéritif.
A sour is a traditional family of mixed drinks. Sours belong to one of the old families of original cocktails and are described by Jerry Thomas in his 1862 book How to Mix Drinks.
Bathtub gin refers to any style of homemade spirit made in amateur conditions. The term first appeared in 1920, in the prohibition-era United States, in reference to the poor-quality alcohol that was being made.
The brandy daisy is a cocktail which first gained popularity in the late 19th century. One of the earliest known recipes was published in 1876 in the second edition of Jerry Thomas's The Bartenders Guide or How To Mix Drinks: The Bon-Vivants Companion:
Fill glass half full of shaved ice. Shake well and strain into a glass, and fill up with Seltzer water from a syphon.
A "fizz" is a mixed drink variation on the older sours family of cocktail. Its defining features are an acidic juice and carbonated water. It typically includes gin or rum as its alcoholic ingredient.
The pink lady is a classic gin-based cocktail with a long history. Its pink color comes from grenadine.
A sea breeze is a cocktail containing vodka with cranberry juice and grapefruit juice. The cocktail is usually consumed during summer months. The drink may be shaken in order to create a foamy surface. It is considered an IBA Official Cocktail.
A Bloody Mary is a cocktail containing vodka, tomato juice, and other spices and flavorings including Worcestershire sauce, hot sauces, garlic, herbs, horseradish, celery, olives, pickled vegetables, salt, black pepper, lemon juice, lime juice and celery salt. Some versions of the drink, such as the "surf 'n turf" Bloody Mary, include shrimp and bacon as garnishes. In the United States, it is usually consumed in the morning or early afternoon, and is popular as a hangover cure.
The Last Word is a gin-based cocktail originating at the Detroit Athletic Club in the 1910s, shortly before the start of Prohibition. After a long period of obscurity, it enjoyed a renewed popularity in the cocktail renaissance of the early 2000s after being discovered by bartender Murray Stenson of the Zig Zag Café in Seattle.
The aviation is a cocktail made with gin, maraschino liqueur, crème de violette and lemon juice. Some recipes omit the crème de violette. It is served straight up, in a cocktail glass.
The doctor cocktail is a pre-prohibition era cocktail that traces in drink guides to as far back as 1917, when it appeared in Hugo R. Ensslin's Recipes for Mixed Drinks. As originally described the cocktail called simply for Swedish Punsch mixed with lime juice.
The Airmail or Air Mail is a classic cocktail based on rum, lime or lemon juice, honey, and sparkling wine. It was probably created during or shortly after the period of prohibition in the United States of America or on Cuba, i.e. in the 1920s or 1930s.
Caledonia Spirits is a craft distillery in Montpelier, Vermont. The distillery is known for its Barr Hill-brand spirits, including gin, vodka, and an Old Tom gin called Tom Cat. The company's flagship product is its Barr Hill Gin, which is the top-selling Vermont-made spirit and the most awarded gin made in the US.
The craft cocktail movement is a social movement spurred by the cocktail renaissance, a period of time in the 21st century characterized by a revival and re-prioritization of traditional recipes and methods in the bar industry, especially in the United States. The renaissance spanned from the early 2000s into the late 2010s. A stricter range is 2004 to 2017: by 2017, high-quality ingredients, techniques, and liquors began to be ubiquitous in bars across the United States, leading writers to declare the renaissance over.