Thyme-Infused Bee's Knees Cocktails for a Crowd
Simply superlative.
by Erin Henderson
This is a fantastic welcome cocktail for the early days of spring.
The lemon, of course, extends brightness and joy after months of rich, brown spirits, full of smoke and leather and dark mystery. But the thyme donates a sober second thought. Perhaps a poor choice of words here, but the earthy, savoury herb keeps one hand on the door frame of winter, providing a little anchoring before diving head first into the still-icy waters of spring.
Of course, this is a riff on a traditional bee's knees, a Prohibition-era cocktail that took advantage of the slang of the time for what meant pretty great.
As usual, I think you could, and should, play around with the ingredients to make it yours: try lavender honey to give a floral note, use a lemon gin to bump up the lemony-ness, if you feel so bold, try mixing fresh orange juice with the lemon and see what happens.
It's your drink and you're the bees knees, baby. Don't you ever forget it.
Thyme-Infused Bee's Knees for a Crowd
As always, I’m not one to get stuck behind the bar mixing and muddling and shaking and stirring when I could be kicking up my heels with the rest of the party. Make a big batch, the below recipe is for eight, but double or halve it as you need.
Makes: 8, 4 oz drinks
Bartender level: easy
Ingredients:
- 10 oz gin
- 5 oz fresh lemon juice
- 5 oz honey thyme syrup
- 3 oz water
- Thyme sprigs, for garnish
- Lemon wheel, for garnish
How to Make It:
- Make your syrup: In a sauce pan over low heat, dissolve 1 cup of honey into 1 cup of water with a pinch of salt and a few thyme sprigs. Stir occasionally until the honey melts, about 5 minutes. Remove the pot from the burner and allow to cool at room tmeperature, about an hour. Strain the thyme sprigs from the honey syrup into a clean jar. Store in the fridge until until needed.
- Into a pitcher, pour in the gin, lemon juice, honey-thyme syrup and water. Stir well to combine. Store in the fridge until needed.
- When ready, pour into chilled coups, garnish with thyme and lemon and serve.