Bees Knees Cocktail with Rosemary Honey Syrup

This bee's knees cocktail is made with a rosemary honey syrup. It's sweet, lemony, and refreshing! Made unique with the addition of rosemary.

The Bee's Knees is a cocktail we’ve made a thousand times at the Food Banjo HQ. It's light and refreshing.

A bee's knees is made with gin, a honey simple syrup, and lemon juice. So you get sweetness from the honey simple syrup, tart and sour from the lemon juice, and alcohol from the gin.

So what’s all the buzz about now? Aimee had the bright idea of introducing rosemary into this gin and honey cocktail in the form of a rosemary honey syrup. The result? More honey flavor and color without any of the bees!

You’ll need fresh rosemary for this Bee's Knees recipe. Luckily, rosemary grows like a weed in most of North America and many front yards are littered with it.

We took the dog for a walk up the block with a pair of scissors and foraged a few sprigs from a neighbor’s yard for the honey syrup and garnish.

Ingredients for the Bee's Knees

• Gin - Choosing the right gin for this is always fun to do. Gin can be vastly different based on the brand and the flavors they use in the gin. Some gins can be very juniper-heavy, while others can be a lot lighter. We prefer a clean tasting gin that doesn't overpower for this, like New Amsterdam, that lets the rosemary really shine in the cocktail. Test out and see what you prefer though!
• Lemon - Fresh lemon juice works best in this bee's knees, so grab a few lemons!
• Honey - You've heard of simple syrup? It's where you combine sugar and water and heat it up to make a syrup you can use in cocktails and mocktails. This recipe uses honey in the place of sugar!
• Fresh rosemary - Rosemary is everywhere here in Texas! It's easy to keep a pot of it yourself to grow, or walk around the neighborhood with a pair of scissors and snip some when you spot some. Foraging at its best. In this recipe, you'll use rosemary to infuse and make the rosemary honey syrup and you can use it as a garnish for the drink.
• Water - we use filtered water to make the honey syrup!
• Ice - You'll use ice cubes both for shaking the cocktail and serving the cocktail.

How to make the rosemary honey syrup:

To make the rosemary honey syrup, heat water, honey, and rosemary sprigs in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir occasionally and heat for 10 minutes. 

Let cool and remove the rosemary. Store in a jar in the refrigerator until ready to use.

How to make the Bee's Knees cocktail

To make the cocktail, add gin, lemon juice, rosemary honey syrup, and ice to a cocktail shaker and shake. Strain into a lowball glass over ice. Garnish with rosemary sprigs!

Looking for more cocktail recipes? Check out some of our favorites:

• Aviation Cocktail
• Meyer Lemon Drop Cocktail
• Dirty Gin and Vodka Martini
• Watermelon Martini
• Hugo spritz