Cocktail & Other Recipes By Spirit Gin Cocktails

Bebbo

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Liquor.com
Liquor.com

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Updated 04/30/21
deep-red bebbo cocktail in a coupe, garnished with a lemon twist and served on a gray surface
Image:

Liquor.com / Tim Nusog

Ted Haigh’s book “Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails” has been instrumental in surfacing lost recipes and liquors since it debuted in 2004. One such recipe is the Bebbo, an obscure cocktail featuring gin, lemon juice, orange juice and honey.

Not much is known about the Bebbo, but it likely descended from the Bee’s Knees, a 1920s classic containing gin, lemon juice and honey that is still popular today. Both drinks are dry and citrusy, accented by the rich taste of honey, which may have been used during Prohibition to mask the taste of subpar gin. But you don’t have to worry about low-quality gin these days: Pick your favorite London dry, and you can’t go wrong.

The original Bebbo recipe called for “orange juice,” which typically means juice squeezed from the common naval orange. This version, however, uses fragrant blood orange juice, adding a sweet seasonal twist and providing its trademark deep red hue. If you’re making the cocktail during the winter and spring months (roughly December through April) when the fruit is available, give blood orange a try. Otherwise, regular OJ has you covered.

Besides squeezing a lemon and pouring gin, the only task left is making the honey syrup. That is quickly accomplished by combining honey and warm water, so this is one forgotten cocktail that you can easily make at home.

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 ounces London dry gin

  • 1 ounce honey syrup

  • 3/4 ounce lemon juice, freshly squeezed

  • 1/4 ounce blood orange juice, freshly squeezed

  • Garnish: lemon twist

Steps

  1. Add the gin, honey syrup, lemon juice and blood orange juice into a cocktail shaker with ice and shake until well-chilled.

  2. Fine-strain into a chilled coupe.

  3. Garnish with a lemon twist.