Classic Cocktails with a Touch of Millbrook Falls: The Bee’s Knees
From Jake Sullivan’s side of Main Street
Ruby and Jake aren’t the only ones in Millbrook Falls keeping old traditions alive.
Inspired by the history woven through this little Connecticut town — which sits at the end of Route 7 and decided sometime around 1925 that it wasn’t in any hurry to change — here’s the first of a few classic cocktails from another era. We’re starting on Jake Sullivan’s side of the street, which is fitting, because if anyone in town respects a thing that’s lasted a hundred years, it’s a Sullivan.
The drink is the Bee’s Knees. It’s about as old as Sullivan’s Coffee, give or take, and the name was once slang for the best there is — which is roughly how Jake talks about a two-dollar cup of coffee, in the tone of a man stating a moral position.
It’s gin, lemon, and honey. Three things, shaken cold. The honey is the whole trick: it softens the gin’s edges and turns the lemon from sharp into bright, and — if you’ve been across the twenty feet of Main Street to a certain other coffee shop lately — you’ll recognize honey as a thing this town apparently can’t stop putting in its drinks. Ruby would approve. She’d never admit it.
Pour one for someone who appreciates a tradition. Jake would tell you it’s just a cocktail. He’d be wrong, in the same way he’s wrong about the coffee.
Ingredients
Makes one cocktail.
- 2 oz gin
- ¾ oz fresh lemon juice
- ¾ oz honey syrup (see note — don’t skip this step)
- Ice
- A lemon twist, to garnish
For the honey syrup: stir 2 tablespoons honey into 1 tablespoon warm water until fully dissolved. That’s it. Plain honey won’t blend into a cold drink, so this little step matters.
How to make it
- Make the honey syrup first. Stir the honey and warm water together until smooth and pourable. Let it cool for a minute.
- Fill a cocktail shaker with ice. Add the gin, lemon juice, and honey syrup.
- Shake hard — about 15 seconds, until the shaker is frosty and cold against your hand. This is not the moment for restraint.
- Strain into a chilled coupe or small glass, leaving the ice behind.
- Twist a strip of lemon peel over the top to release the oils, then drop it in. Serve right away, while it’s cold and the foam is still on top.
From behind Jake’s counter
A few things, said reluctantly, because he doesn’t see why a cocktail needs notes:
- Fresh lemon only. The bottled stuff tastes like a compromise, and this drink has only three ingredients — there’s nowhere for a shortcut to hide.
- Taste before you pour. Honey varies, lemons vary. If it’s too tart, a touch more syrup; too sweet, a squeeze more lemon. Three ingredients means you’re the one keeping them in balance.
- Cold is the whole point. A warm Bee’s Knees is just sad. Chill the glass, shake it longer than feels necessary, and drink it before it forgets it was cold.
Jake Sullivan runs Sullivan’s Coffee — the hundred-year-old shop across the famous twenty feet of Main Street — in the Millbrook Falls romances, starting with Got Coffee. 🍋🍯
Please drink responsibly. Must be of legal drinking age.