A Honey Cocktail Recipe
Image courtesy of the St. Ermin's Hotel
The Autograph Collection St. Ermin's Hotel in central London has a lot to distinguish it, including a former life as a hang-out and watering hole for the likes of Winston Churchill, Noel Coward, spy-turned-novelist Ian Fleming and a number of MI6 agents, who camped out on several of the hotel's floors during World War II. From its glorious wedding cake lobby ornamented with miles of crisp white painted plasterwork to its elegant public rooms and restaurants, this historic London hotel designed by Victorian theater designer J.P. Briggs is a treat for all of the senses.
Garden fans, especially those traveling to England for the Chelsea Flower Show or garden tours will flip for the on-site courtyard garden that fronts the 1889 hotel, where hydrangea, boxwoods, pansies and gorgeous containers offer a mini-park setting in the middle of this very busy city.
A generous front porch, reminiscent of homes in Charleston or New Orleans offers the perfect perch for an end of day cocktail or morning tea and affords a meditative vantage of the garden. But the garden pleasures don't stop there.
The St. Ermin's utterly unique charm extends to a novel beekeeping program helmed by charming city beekeeper Camilla Goddard. Located on a hotel terrace, the program is home to a bee hotel housing some 300,000 Italian honeybees who pollinate the Queen's flowers at nearby Buckingham Palace and St. James Park. There is a year-long waiting list for Goddard's beekeeping class, but it's well worth the wait. Participants enjoy honey-tastings from around the world, an immersion in beekeeping and bee habits and a trip upstairs to the bee hotel—after donning full body bee suits of course.
Honey from the bees makes its way into the hotel's cuisine, including the incomparably delicious Bowler Hat cocktail. Enjoy a taste of London and its glorious gardens on your own front porch, fire escape, balcony or deck.
The Bowler Hat Cocktail
Courtesy of the St. Ermin's Hotel
- 12.5 ml dry vermouth
- 37.5 ml gin
- 2 teaspoons honey
- 25 ml lemon juice
Mix lemon and honey first once dissolved, add rest of ingredients and shake.