This Meyer Lemon Rosemary Bees Knees Cocktail combines gin, fresh meyer lemon juice, honey, and rosemary for a seasonal gin cocktail that is lightly sweet and tangy.
I love a good cocktail like this Meyer Lemon Rosemary Bees Knees Cocktail. It’s fresh and light and SO easy to make. Easier than the name is to say, I promise.
With just a few simple ingredients, you can make this easy lemon gin cocktail for parties that guests will rave over. Most of the ingredients can be prepared ahead of time, allowing you to enjoy the party as much as your guests!
Table of Contents
What is in a Bees Knees Cocktail?
-
gin
-
lemon juice
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honey
What are meyer lemons and what do they taste like?
When are meyer lemons in season?
What is the best way to use meyer lemons?
How To Make Honey Simple Syrup
How Long Does Honey Simple Syrup Last?
Looking for more cocktail recipes for your next party? Try these!
- Pineapple Margarita
- Easy Cranberry Mimosa
- Apple Cider Thyme Mimosa
- Frozen Mango Margarita
- Frozen Watermelon Rosé Wine Slushies
- This Mezcal Negroni is a smoky twist on a classic Negroni!
Lemon Recipes that You’ll Go Crazy For
- Gluten-Free Fruit Tart with Lemon Curd
- Gluten-Free Vegan Lemon Scones
- Roasted Rainbow Carrots with Lemon Tahini Sauce
- Gluten-Free Vegan Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
Meyer Lemon Rosemary Bees Knees Cocktail
Print Recipe Pin Recipe Rate this RecipeIngredients
For the Honey Simple Syrup:
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1/4 cup water
- 2 sprigs fresh rosemary
For the Cocktail:
- 2 oz gin
- 1 oz honey simple syrup - as made above
- 2 oz fresh meyer lemon juice - if using regular lemon reduce to 1 oz
- 1 sprig fresh rosemary
Instructions
For the Honey Simple Syrup:
- Add honey and water to a small pot on the stove over medium high heat.
- Bring to a boil.
- Let simmer for 5 minutes, or until the honey has completely dissolved. Remove the saucepan from the heat.
- Add fresh rosemary to the saucepan and let the simple syrup cool for 30 minutes to an hour, until thick and syrupy.
- Remove the rosemary sprigs from the pot and pour rosemary simple syrup into a glass jar.
For the Cocktail:
- Fill a cocktail shaker with ice.
- Add gin, honey simple syrup, and fresh meyer lemon juice to the cocktail shaker.
- Shake well.
- Strain into a cocktail glass or coupe glass.
- Garnish with fresh rosemary sprig.
- Enjoy!
Love this cocktail! Nice balance. Including the lemon rinds when shaking (“regal shake”) makes for a longer finish.
For the honey syrup, I prefer to boil some water in a kettle & then weigh out the honey and water for the desired concentration. I just whisk them together rather than doing a stovetop method.
I like 3:1 honey syrup, which is used in a number of other cocktails and works well in this one. That is, 3 oz. honey to 1 oz water. Since honey weighs 50% more than water by volume, that means the weight of the honey = 3 * 1 oz honey = 3 * 28g * 1.5 = 126 grams. So 126 g honey & 28 g (i.e. 1 oz) water, yielding of 4 oz honey syrup.
For cocktails that call for 1:1 simple syrup (i.e. 1 part sugar to one part water), I just reduce the syrup to 1/3 of what the cocktail recipe says.
Great tips, Gregory! I’m definitely going to try some of your suggestions next time.
Love the combination of flavors. I only had Tanqueray in the house, & I think a more herbal gin would be better. And it’s a bit too sweet for my taste, so I’m going to play with the amount of simple syrup. Nice & refreshing!
Thanks for sharing, Tammy! I will have to give this a try with a more herbal gin sometime, too!
I agree with the other comments: mix hot water with the honey off the stove and 3:1 is the most common ratio, you want no more than enough water to make the syrup easy to pour. I haven’t tried your recipe yet, but maybe this evening. I got my first-of-the-season bag of Meyer lemons a couple of days ago and have been trawling the web since then for recipes, and thank you for yours.
(Simple Syrup is white sugar and water. In the US in a one-to-one ratio; in Europe in a two-to-one sugar to water ratio. If you add anything else, it isn’t simple syrup. Simple honey syrup is an oxymoron.)