Bee’s Knees

Novice

A Bee’s Knees is 52.5ml of London Dry gin, 22.5ml each of fresh lemon and orange juice and two teaspoons (10ml) of honey syrup, made with two parts honey to one of warm water. Shake it hard for 10 to 12 seconds and double strain it into a chilled coupe, with a strip of lemon peel. About 2.1 UK units. The measures are the IBA’s. The orange is the part most recipes leave out. The oldest printings are gin, lemon and honey alone; David Embury suggested a little orange juice as a variation in 1948, and the IBA built it in. Orange softens the lemon, which is why two teaspoons of honey syrup are enough. The drink is often filed under American Prohibition, with honey and lemon covering for bathtub gin. Difford’s Guide, a secondary source, says the earliest printing tells a different story: Cocktails de Paris, published in 1929, credits it to Frank Meier of the Ritz in Paris, and Meier claimed it again in his own book in 1936.

ShakenAperitifClassic

Glassware: Coupe Glass

Garnish: Lemon peel

Ingredients

Serves

London Dry Gin

52.5ml

A London Dry at 40% ABV with clear juniper. At 52.5ml it is half the drink, and the honey and juices sit around it rather than over it.

Fresh Lemon Juice

22.5ml

Squeezed the same day. Matched measure for measure with the orange, it supplies most of the acid.

Fresh Orange Juice

22.5ml

Squeezed the same day. The IBA’s addition to the old gin, lemon and honey drink; it rounds the lemon and lets a small amount of honey balance it.

Honey syrup

2 teaspoons (10ml)

Two parts runny honey to one part warm water, stirred until it pours, then cooled. A mild wildflower honey lets the gin lead; heather or chestnut honey makes itself known.

Instructions

Squeeze the lemon and orange juice the same day and chill a coupe.

For the honey syrup, stir two parts runny honey into one part warm water until it pours, then let it cool.

Add the gin, lemon juice, orange juice and honey syrup to a shaker.

Fill with cubed ice and shake hard for 10 to 12 seconds.

Double strain into the chilled coupe.

Express a strip of lemon peel over the surface and rest it on the rim.

Source: the IBA (Official IBA specification, with the honey made up as a two-to-one syrup; method and lemon peel garnish ours). Last checked 10 October 2026.

Expert Tip

Use honey syrup, not neat honey. Honey stiffens when it meets cold gin and ice, and ends up as a lump in the shaker. Two parts runny honey stirred into one part warm water pours easily and in our experience keeps for a few weeks in the fridge. If you only have neat honey, do what the IBA says: stir it into the lemon and orange juice in the shaker until it dissolves, then add the gin and ice. Adjust with the honey. Too sharp, add a little more syrup; too sweet, take it back. The two juices are matched on purpose, and moving either changes the drink more than a few millilitres of honey does.

The story

Behind the Bee’s Knees

Flavour Profile

HoneyLemonJuniperFloralBright

Paris, Not Prohibition

Difford’s Guide gives the earliest printed Bee’s Knees as Cocktails de Paris, published in 1929, which prints it as a sixth lemon juice, a sixth honey and two thirds Gordon’s dry gin, shaken, and credits it to Frank Meier of the Hôtel Ritz. Meier repeated it in The Artistry of Mixing Drinks in 1936, where, Difford’s says, a design marks it as one of his own recipes.

The story most people know puts it in an American speakeasy, honey and lemon disguising rough bathtub gin. It is plausible and unsupported. The Brooklyn Standard Union of April 1929, which Difford’s Guide dates to the 22nd, did credit an American, Mrs J. J. Brown of Denver and Paris, the socialite Margaret Brown, and the Oxford Companion, in an entry by Eric Felten, also records the attribution, citing the paper of 23 April. Meier may have made it for her at the Ritz.

The Orange in the IBA Recipe

Meier’s drink has no orange. David Embury, writing in 1948, said a small amount of orange juice made an interesting variation, and the IBA spec goes further, giving orange the same 22.5ml as the lemon.

That changes the arithmetic. Orange juice is sweeter and less acidic than lemon, so the pair together are softer than lemon alone, and two teaspoons of honey syrup are enough to balance them. Leave the orange out and the same honey leaves the drink tart, which is why Meier’s version gives the honey as much room as the lemon.

Honey Syrup, and Which Honey

Neat honey and cold gin do not mix: the honey thickens and sticks to the ice. The IBA’s answer is to stir the honey into the juices first. Ours is a syrup of two parts honey to one of warm water, the same one our Gold Rush uses, which pours straight from the bottle.

The honey itself is a choice. Mild wildflower or acacia honey adds sweetness and a light floral note and leaves the gin in front. Heather or chestnut honey is darker and more bitter, and with a strongly juniper-led gin it makes a deeper drink. At two teaspoons the difference is noticeable without taking over.

Meier’s Version, the IBA’s and the Gold Rush

The Bee’s Knees in 1929, the IBA spec we pour, and our Gold Rush

Spirit

Cocktails de Paris, 1929: Two thirds gin
Bee’s Knees (IBA): 52.5ml London Dry gin
Gold Rush: 60ml bourbon

Lemon juice

Cocktails de Paris, 1929: One sixth
Bee’s Knees (IBA): 22.5ml
Gold Rush: 22.5ml

Orange juice

Cocktails de Paris, 1929: None
Bee’s Knees (IBA): 22.5ml
Gold Rush: None

Honey

Cocktails de Paris, 1929: One sixth, neat
Bee’s Knees (IBA): 10ml honey syrup
Gold Rush: 22.5ml honey syrup

Serve

Cocktails de Paris, 1929: Shaken, up
Bee’s Knees (IBA): Up, in a chilled coupe
Gold Rush: On one large cube

UK units

Cocktails de Paris, 1929: Not fixed by the recipe
Bee’s Knees (IBA): About 2.1
Gold Rush: About 2.4

Element	Cocktails de Paris, 1929	Bee’s Knees (IBA)	Gold Rush
Spirit	Two thirds gin	52.5ml London Dry gin	60ml bourbon
Lemon juice	One sixth	22.5ml	22.5ml
Orange juice	None	22.5ml	None
Honey	One sixth, neat	10ml honey syrup	22.5ml honey syrup
Serve	Shaken, up	Up, in a chilled coupe	On one large cube
UK units	Not fixed by the recipe	About 2.1	About 2.4

How to Serve It

Serve it up, in a coupe taken from the freezer. The double strain catches the orange pulp and the ice. Express the lemon peel over the top and rest it on the rim. The IBA allows orange zest instead; lemon keeps the nose sharper against the honey.

For honey with bourbon, make a Gold Rush; for the plain sugar sour on gin, a Gin Sour.

Make it

Make it at home

The Spirit

Gin

Gin is a spirit flavoured with juniper berries. Under the retained Regulation (EC) 110/2008, juniper must lead the taste, the floor is 37.5% ABV, and the route the flavour takes sets the grade: plain gin, distilled gin or London gin. Our recipes count it at 40%, and it carries the Martini, the Negroni and the Gin and Tonic.

Learn more

Master the Techniques

How to shake a cocktailin Shaken or stirred? When to shake or stir a cocktail

Go further

More to explore

Frequently Asked Questions

What is in a Bee’s Knees?

52.5ml of London Dry gin, 22.5ml of fresh lemon juice, 22.5ml of orange juice, freshly squeezed, and two teaspoons, or 10ml, of honey syrup at two parts honey to one of warm water. It is shaken hard, double strained into a chilled coupe and finished with lemon peel.

Is the Bee’s Knees a Prohibition cocktail?

Probably not. It is often said to have been made in Prohibition America to hide poor gin, but Difford’s Guide finds it began in Paris. Difford’s gives the earliest as Cocktails de Paris in 1929, which credits Frank Meier of the Ritz in Paris, and says Meier printed it again as his own in 1936.

Why does the IBA recipe include orange juice?

Early versions were gin, lemon and honey only. David Embury, in The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks in 1948, called a little orange juice an interesting variation, and the IBA spec now gives orange and lemon in equal measure. The orange softens the acid, so less honey is needed.

How do I make honey syrup?

Stir two parts runny honey into one part warm water until it pours freely, then cool it and keep it sealed in the fridge; we keep it for up to a few weeks. Neat honey stiffens on contact with cold gin and ice, and will not mix properly in the shaker.

Who was the drink made for?

Difford’s Guide reports that the Brooklyn Standard Union of 22 April 1929 credited Mrs J. J. Brown of Denver and Paris, the Margaret Brown later known as the Unsinkable Molly Brown, with the drink. Difford’s suggests Meier perhaps made it for her at the Ritz. Neither claim can be settled now.

How does it differ from a Gold Rush?

Our Gold Rush is 60ml of bourbon with 22.5ml each of lemon juice and honey syrup, served on one large cube. It has no orange and far more honey. The Bee’s Knees is lighter and sharper, with gin’s juniper where the Gold Rush has bourbon’s vanilla.

What does the name mean?

The phrase is slang for something excellent, and the honey makes the pun. Nothing we have read records who chose the name for the drink, and we have found no primary record of it.

How strong is a Bee’s Knees?

About 2.1 UK units, all of it from 52.5ml of gin at 40% ABV. The lemon, orange and honey syrup add none. UK units are ABV times millilitres divided by 1,000; the Chief Medical Officers’ guideline is no more than 14 units a week, spread over three or more days.

Sources.

Checked between 18 October and 19 October 2026.

Difford’s Guide, “Bee’s Knees” (secondary source: Cocktails de Paris (1929) credits Frank Meier of the Hôtel Ritz Paris: 1/6 lemon, 1/6 honey, 2/3 Gordon’s dry gin; Standard Union (Brooklyn), 22 April 1929, credits Mrs J. J. Brown of Denver and Paris; Meier’s The Artistry of Mixing Drinks (1936); Embury (1948) on orange juice).
The Oxford Companion to Spirits and Cocktails (Eric Felten), “Bee’s Knees” (secondary source: first appears in print during Prohibition, ascribed to Margaret “The Unsinkable Molly” Brown (Brooklyn Standard Union, 23 April 1929 in its references); Embury on the drink).
IBA, “Bee’s Knees” (official specification: 52.5ml dry gin, 2 teaspoons honey syrup, 22.5ml fresh lemon juice, 22.5ml fresh orange juice; stir the honey with the juices until it dissolves, add the gin and shake).