Bear With Me, Honey

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Cocktail History

The Bear With Me, Honey is a spring cocktail that was created by Morgan Stana at A Rake’s Bar in Washington, D.C. It starts out similar to its Prohibition-era predecessor the Bee’s Knees by using gin as the base spirit and honey as the sweetener, but it replaces the lemon with verjus blanc, a tangy fruit juice that tastes similar to vinegar. It then balances the acidity of the juice with orange liqueur, saline, frothy egg white, and aromatic rosemary.

Cocktail Ingredients

To make this cocktail, you’ll need the following ingredients:

Gin: This is a spirit made by redistilling a neutral spirit with juniper berries and other botanicals to develop a distinctive, aromatic flavor.

Verjus Blanc: This is a juice made with unripe grapes, which are pressed to develop a tart, acidic flavor.

Honey Syrup: This is a sweetener made with honey and water, which are heated and infused into a syrup with a sweet flavor.

Egg White: This is the clear portion of an egg that’s separated from the yolk and used to add frothy texture to cocktails.

Triple Sec: This is a liqueur made with bitter orange peels, distilled alcohol, water, and sugar, which are blended and infused to develop a sweet, bright citrus flavor.

Saline Solution: This is a flavoring made by dissolving salt in water to develop a salty flavor that’s used to enhance other ingredients.

Rosemary Sprig: This is an evergreen herb.

Flower: This is an edible flower that can be used as a garnish.

Brands I Used

• 🔗 Suntory Roku Japanese Gin
• 🔗 Fusion Napa Valley Verjus Blanc
• 🔗 Monin Premium Honey Syrup
• 🔗 Cointreau L’Unique Orange Liqueur

Bartending Tools

To make this cocktail, you’ll need the following bar tools:

Bar Mat: This is a rubber or silicone mat that’s placed on the bar surface and used for catching spills, providing grip for glasses and tools, and keeping the workspace clean and organized.

Jigger: This is a small double-sided tool with different volume measurements on each side that’s used for accurately portioning ingredients.

Boston Shaker: This is a two-piece cocktail shaker made with a large metal tin and a second tin or mixing glass that’s used for shaking and chilling cocktail ingredients.

Hawthorne Strainer: This is a flat metal strainer with a handle and a coiled spring around the edge that’s used for straining shaken cocktails from a shaker while holding back ice and solids.

Straw: This is a thin tubular utensil that’s used for more slowly sipping cocktails and mixed drinks.

Lowball Glass: This is a short, wide glass with a thick base that’s used for serving cocktails with ice or spirits neat.

Tools I Used

• 🔗 A Bar Above 18×12 Premium Bar Mat
• 🔗 A Bar Above Stainless Steel Japanese Jigger
• 🔗 A Bar Above Stainless Steel Boston Shaker
• 🔗 A Bar Above Stainless Steel Hawthorne Strainer
• 🔗 Piteno Premium Glass Straw
• 🔗 Hakefyna Teddy Bear Glass

Tasting Notes

This cocktail has the following flavor profile:

• Appearance: Faint yellow color

• Aroma: Obvious rosemary and acidic juice

• Taste: Moderately bitter flavor and thick mouthfeel made of botanical gin and sweet honey

• Finish: More bitter sourness with slight citrus notes

Kendall’s Take: “I love the Bee’s Knees, so I was expecting to enjoy this variation of the classic quite a bit. As it turns out though, the vinegar taste wasn’t an ingredient I liked mixed with the others. The verjus was too overpowering compared to the other elements, in my opinion. It is a cute drink thanks to its bear-shaped glass, but I don’t think I’ll be shaking the Bear With Me, Honey up again. I’ll be sticking to the tried and true Bee’s Knees or the Tequila Honeysuckle made with tequila.”

Recipe

This cocktail recipe was found in the publication Liquor.com.