Every once in a while I find myself feeling the urge to bring out my fancy rocks glasses that I inherited from my grandmother when we cleaned out her house years ago. They belonged originally to my great-great aunt who sponsored my grandmother’s emigration to the U.S. from Ireland, and they always stood in a place of honor in my grandmother’s china hutch, far from the grabby hands of children who would be tempted to play with them.
Now half are in my brother’s house while the rest are in our far-more understated china cabinet, and I save them for special-occasion cocktails, like the Ident Bumper as inspired by Succession, and this lovely California Bee Sting from Eric Ripert. It’s a celebration of honey and citrus with a nice bite of heat from dried red chiles, and it’s really easy to make. The only consideration needed is allowing the honey-chile syrup enough time to infuse and cool before using.
Speaking of the honey-chile syrup, I like using the raw mountain honey that you can get from Whole Foods, mainly because I like the taste and it’s pretty easy to turn into syrup. Since it’s mostly solid at room temperature, I find it a little easier to measure out than the honey you get in squeeze bottles, and it melts quickly when combined with water. I also like snipping whole dried chiles to go into the syrup, and for me, one and a half Japonés chiles add a nice amount of heat to provide the “sting” in the cocktail’s name.
While I’m not a big vodka fan overall, its neutral taste allows the other ingredients to shine, and this makes for an easy-sipping cocktail whether you’re sitting out on a porch or making dinner.
California Bee Sting
Lightly adapted from Avec Eric by Eric Ripert
Makes four cocktails
- ½ cup honey (preferably raw mountain honey)
- ¼ cup hot water
- 1 ½ Japones chiles, snipped into rounds with kitchen shears
- Juice of 1 orange
- Juice of 1 Meyer lemon (before juicing, use a Y-peeler to get four strips of peel for garnish)
- Juice of 1 lemon
- Juice of 1 lime
- 8 oz vodka
- Ice
To make the syrup, combine the honey, hot water, and dried chiles into a small saucepan, bring to a boil, and then remove from the heat. Let the chiles infuse; after 15 minutes, taste the syrup to check the heat level and let infuse for longer if desired. When the syrup is at the heat level you prefer, strain the syrup and let cool completely before using.
Combine the citrus juices into one container that allows for easy pouring.
For each cocktail, combine 2 oz of vodka, 1 ½ ounces of the honey syrup, and one ounce of the citrus juices into a cocktail glass filled halfway with ice, shake until very cold (about 30 seconds), and strain into a rocks/old fashioned glass with fresh ice. Serve with a strip of lemon zest and enjoy!
The Manhattan [food] Project 