I've got at least four jars of honey in my kitchen - multiple local varieties, a habanero honey, and at least one regular little bottle. I love the stuff.
I also love it in cocktails and I'm happy to see honey-related drinks on menus about town - they're de rigeur for Prohibition era cocktail bars. The Bee's Knees Cooper had at Rye earlier this year was excellent.
But...I think drinks with honey might be kind of over already. Thanks to West Elm.
Now I like West Elm as much as the next girl. I was thrilled when they opened a store in my mall. I can even almost get behind West Elm's Brooklyn/Etsy/blah-blah-blah thrust. I get why they're doing it, though I actually think it just makes Brooklyn/Etsy/anything handmade seem (more) overdone, rather than making West Elm seem hip.
Here's where I'm going with this: in its most recent catalog, West Elm featured a honey cocktail, which, inconveniently, I cannot find online, so you'll just have to take my word for it. My reaction to the recipe was not, "Oh, look, I love honey! I'll make this!" Instead, it was, "Well, I guess honey cocktails are over, now that they're gracing the pages of West Elm's catalog."
I'm a little perplexed by my reaction: I'm not usually the kind of person who shuns something becuase it gets popular. I celebrate mainstream popularity! I like The Beatles! So I'm not sure why this is rubbing me the wrong way. But it is.
That said, I may make myself a Bee's Knees for cocktail hour today. But it won't make me feel cool, I can promise you that.
**If you're not ready to say sayonary to the honey, read this 2009 Imbibe article. It's a nice little primer, with a simple honey syrup recipe included.
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