Tag Archives: apple brandy

When wifey and I were in Savannah for the holidays, we grabbed up on some great honey at the Savannah Bee Company.  Shit’s legit, let me say.  And I love to use to use honey in cocktails.  When I came across the following recipe in the Bartender’s Guide, I remembered I had it at Little Branch a few years back with the Doc.  Incidentally, we were the only patrons on that chilly Sunday evening, and we were each served seven totally unique cocktails – bartender’s choice – by Sam Ross, hisself.  So yeah, I’m kinda kick ass.

Variant name: Mutt's Nutts

Bee’s Knees

2 oz. Apple Brandy

1 oz. Lemon Juice

.75 oz. Honey

Shake over ice, serve up or down with a lemon peel.

Okay, the original recipe calls for a ratio of 1:1:1.  Too sweet, not boozy enough.  My ratio works quite a bit better.  Also, here’s the thing about honey… it’s tough to get it to dissolve into the drink.  You can either add a splash of very hot water, or just do a dry shake before you add the ice.  Otherwise it’ll just hang out at the bottom of the glass, shitty and ill-informed.

If you don’t have apple brandy – Laird’s Bonded or a nice Calvados, please – you can use gin, but then it’s called a “Bee’s Knee.”  Sam Ross made a drink called the Bee’s Kiss, which was based on this, but made with rum and a dash of cream.

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