Named funny and made with honey, it’s The Bebbo Cocktail:
- 1.5 ounces gin
- 1.0 ounce fresh lemon juice
- 0.5 ounce honey
- 2.0 teaspoons orange juice
Stir all the ingredients (except ice) together in a cocktail shaker until the honey dissolves. Add ice, shake, and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a cocktail cherry.
This drink is supposedly similar to the Bee’s Knees cocktail, but instead of the Bebbo they should have called it the Cat’s Pajamas – it’s that good.
The main difference is that the Bebbo adds a bit of orange juice. Since they are in season, I used fresh blood orange juice that turned the cocktail a delightful shade of pink. After one sip I knew I’d be making a second and passing this one on to Andrea (I always like to give her the prettier glass).
This drink was truly a gift, and I mean that literally. The honey, which came in that lovely one pound glass bottle, was a gift to Andrea from a place called Vintage Bees. Only eight bottles were made of the raw honey. Honey and cocktails should go together since one thing I like about my cocktail hobby is that, with the exception of wine-based ingredients like vermouth, spirits don’t go bad over time and neither does honey.
One trick to making this drink is to heat the honey a little before mixing. I used the microwave, and it is one of my pet peeves that people rarely use the power settings on a microwave oven. I ran about a tablespoon for 60 seconds on a power level of 3, which meant for 70% of that minute there was no heating. It lets the heat from the excited water molecules spread throughout the liquid without causing it to break down.
The gin was also a gift for my birthday from my friend Joyce. I’m not sure where she got it, but it doesn’t look like it is normally available in North Carolina. Sacred Gin in made in London, and one article I found referred to it as the “Breaking Bad” of gin, since while it uses an old recipe it relies on modern chemistry techniques for its production. It’s very nice, and it was a perfect and thoughtful present. Obscure bottles of good booze are always welcome.
Rating: 5/5