The Bees Kiss Cocktail Recipe

Last Updated on July 1, 2025 by Leah Hall

Made this rum and cream cocktail for National Rum Day, but we think that can be everyday, right? One of our favorite rum cocktail recipes, make this Bee’s Kiss Cocktail soon!

We found a cocktail book, “The Trader Vic’s Book of Food and Drink” while antiquing, and wanted to make this tasty Bee’s Kiss Cocktail!

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Bee’s Kiss Cocktail History

The Bee’s Kiss is a relatively simple cocktail, with only three ingredients needed, but that simplicity can hide a little catch.  The original recipe calls for the use of straight honey as the sweetener, which can sometimes be a bit hard to work. Honey straight out of a bottle will often not dissolve into the rest of the drink. This can leave the drink overly boozy and not nearly sweet enough. Tips for this below.

The Bee’s Kiss cocktail is rich and creamy. It first debuted in Trader Vic’s Book of Food and Drink in 1946. It has heavy cream in it, so this is a drink that needs a lot of shaking, to help make it frothy and light.

This Bee’s Kiss is one of our favorite classic rum cocktails of all time, plus we love honey in cocktails, too! Drinks like the Hot Honey Bee’s Knees, Apricot and Honey Bourbon Sour, or the Whiskey Lush!

Honey in Cocktails

Honey can be difficult to pour and measure, and when placed in a shaker with ice, often crystallizes. This makes it nearly impossible to incorporate into the drink.

Having worked with honey on a number of other cocktails, we decided to swap out the straight honey for a rich honey syrup which helped balance the drink to give it a nice sweetness.  Incorporating the richness of cream and the sweet floral notes of honey with the smoothness of a nice aged rum, the Bees Kiss cocktail will definitely put you in the land of Milk and Honey!

Tips & Tricks

• Garnish – if you have fresh honeycomb, it would look lovely on this. Or grated nutmeg on top. Or, even a shake of ground cinnamon.
• Honey Simple Syrup – you can make this ahead of time and store it in the fridge for up to two weeks. In this cocktail we use a rich honey simple syrup (i.e. more honey than water) so it is thicker than normal simple syrup. But, the syrup is necessary, instead of just using honey.
• Heavy Cream – you can sub half and half for the heavy cream, but you will have to use a little more to help with the creaminess of the cocktail, about 1 – 1.25 ounces.
• Aged Rum – in this case, any aged rum will work. But, we recommend Flor de Cana, Mount Gay, Appleton Estate or Bacardi 8 year. Try aged rum in our Pineapple Express, too!
• Glass – We used a brandy snifter, but a cocktail coupe or lowball works great, too!

Cheers!

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Like this recipe? Try these below, too!

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Yield: 1

The Bee's Kiss - National Rum Day

Prep Time: 3 minutes

Total Time: 3 minutes

A fantastic rum cocktail that is creamy and smooth. One of our favorite rum cocktail recipes!

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Ingredients

Honey Simple Syrup

• 3/4 cup water
• 1 cup honey

Bee's Kiss

• 2 ounces aged rum
• 1 ounce honey simple syrup
• 3/4 ounce heavy cream

Instructions

For the Bee's Kiss

Place rum, cream and honey simple syrup into a shaker and add ice.

Shake vigorously for 30 seconds.

Strain into a cocktail coupe.

Cheers!

Honey Simple Syrup

Place honey and water in a small saucepan over medium heat.

Stir until honey and water are fully incorporated.

Allow to cool and refrigerate.

Recommended Products

As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.

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  A Bar Above Hawthorne Strainer for Cocktails
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  Cocktail Shaker – 17oz Parisian Cocktail Shaker
• 
  Pure Raw Honey
• 
  Luminarc Barcraft Coupe

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

1

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 288Total Fat: 7.9gSaturated Fat: 4.9gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 0gCholesterol: 29mgSodium: 10mgCarbohydrates: 24gFiber: 0.1gSugar: 23.3gProtein: 0.5g

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