I celebrate all things green and growing in April, and toast  to Spring. I’m lifting a glass sparkling with a fresh squeeze of citrus juice and blended with  Buzz Savories local honey. I also lift myself out of my ordinary eating routine through 5 months of winter doldrums with a Spring Tonic.   

Celebrate with the Blushing Bee Cocktail or renew and refresh with the Blushing Bee tonic. Make a honey simple syrup then squeeze a fresh lemon and a lime, add a tablespoon of cranberry juice for the blush then shake with ice.  The cocktail calls for vodka. Call it a tonic or call it a cocktail, sip the Blushing Bee for the light citrus flavor and the aroma of flowering apple trees and lilacs. 

Honey syrup is the key to the refreshing flavor of this sipping aperitif. Honey takes a bow in this drink as it blends with the acid of the citrus juices to make a smooth sipping beverage, thereby acquire a local honey, like Buzz Savories Artisanal Honey, for the flavor and the quality of 100% honey.   

I advise incorporating cranberry juice for color.  I did not want to buy a quart of cranberry juice to add the “blush” to the tonic/cocktail instead I poured 2 tablespoons of cherry syrup from a bottle I saved for months in the refrigerator. The cherry syrup turned the Blushing Bee Cocktail brown!  Cranberry juice adds a rose pink to the mix. 

To double or triple the recipe, make the honey syrup a day or a week before your friends arrive.  Squeeze the citrus several hours prior to the party and refrigerate.   

The shake process takes this drink to a higher level of flavor so fill a quart jar 2/3 full of ice then pour the citrus/honey mixture over and shake, shake, shake, then strain into glasses and serve.