Bee's Knees

The phrase "the bee's knees" was originally an 18th century fanciful phrase which referred to seething that didn't exist. It was used as the kind of spoof item apprentice would be sent to the store to fetch - like tartan paint or a left-handed hammer.

In the Roaring Twenties IN America, bright young things invented nonsense language to refer to things that were "the top" - like "the cat's pijamas", "The snake's hip" and so on. They utilized the existing Bee's Knees phrase to add to that list.

The beneficial adding of a splash of orange juice to a Bee's Knees (classically is just gin, lemon and honey) comes from David Embury's 1948 book The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks where he says, "the addition of a small amount of orange juice makes for an interesting variation".

50 ml Ginepraio Gin

20 ml Lemon Juice

20 ml Orange Juice

15 ml Honey Water

Shake and double strain in a Coupette glass.

Garnish with a lemon coin.