New Zealand does not have one official national cocktail, but its bars have adopted the bee's knees, a 1920s American mix of gin, lemon and honey, and given it a local accent with mānuka honey. Mānuka honey comes from bees working the flowers of the mānuka, a native tea tree, and it is darker, thicker and more herbal than ordinary honey, with a faint bitterness that makes it excellent in a sour. With the boom in small New Zealand gin distilleries, several of which use native botanicals, it has become one of the country's favorite ways to show off two exports in one glass.

It is a three ingredient drink, which means each ingredient has nowhere to hide. Use fresh lemons, a good gin and real mānuka honey, and keep the cocktail for the podium celebration rather than the warm up.

The honey syrup

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons (40 g) mānuka honey
• 1 tablespoon (15 ml) hot water

The cocktail

Ingredients

• 4 fl oz (120 ml) New Zealand gin
• 1 1/2 fl oz (45 ml) fresh lemon juice
• 2 strips of lemon peel
• 2 cups ice cubes

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