bee sting

2 oz Beefeater 24 Gin
1/2 oz Lemon Juice
1/2 oz Honey Syrup (1:1 with water)
~12 Peppercorns

Muddle peppercorns in shaker. Add rest of ingredients and ice, shake, and strain into a cocktail glass.

Last night, Andrea and I attended the Boston launch party for Beefeater's new gin, Beefeater 24, held at Drink. Beefeater 24 is more citrussy than normal Beefeater with peels from Spanish grapefruit, lemon, and Seville orange in the botanical mix. Also noteworthy in the 12 botanicals are two teas -- Japanese Sencha and Chinese green tea. Desmond Payne, Beefeater's master distiller, added the tea in homage to James Burroughs' (who founded Beefeater in the 1800s) father who was a tea merchant. Tasting the gin straight, the citrus notes stood out the most with the tea being a little more subtle. In addition, the juniper was a lot more subdued than in the regular Beefeater.

The first drink I sampled from the menu was one developed by the bartenders at Drink and made for me by Misty Kalkofen. The Bee Sting is a take on the classic Bees Knees with the added ingredient of muddle peppercorns to provide a bit of extra spice to the drink. The grapefruit accents in the gin really showed through in this drink with the green tea notes coming out in the aftertaste. The black pepper was a good addition for it worked well with some of the other botanicals in this particular gin. Indeed, Andrea's comment was that "the sum is greater than the parts given the ingredients" in this cocktail.

Misty making a Beefeater 24 Old Fashioned with bergamot bitters.