No one can deny that bees are important to the environment and, according to scientific research, our very existence. If you’d like to honour these creatures, a very famous cocktail offers the opportunity to do so – the Bee’s Knees.
Thought to have been invented by Molly Brown in the 1920s, when cocktails were all the rage, the drink itself consists of gin, lemon juice and honey, and it was first mentioned in an account in the Standard Union in 1929:
“The ‘Bee’s Knees’ is an invention of Mrs J J Brown of Denver and Paris…and is a rather sweet combination including lemon and honey.”
Brown was well-known in the nightclubs of New York and Paris, and so it isn’t hard to believe that she did indeed invent her own cocktail. Since then, various recipes have emerged, some including orange juice, while others say that adding a little grapefruit peel or lavender bitters brings out the honey flavour. Other variations suggest infusing the gin with tea, but the basic ingredients of gin, lemon and honey remain consistent.
As to the name, it could easily have been called the ant’s pants or the cat’s pyjamas, or even the caterpillar’s kimono. By the 1920s, it was common practice to attribute two-word animal phrases as a descriptor for excellence.
If you’re in need of some engraved drinkware for your own variation of the Bee’s Knees, then here at H Cooper Glass Engravers, we have a wide range of crystal glasses suitable for any type of cocktail.
