You can’t have failed to notice it’s St Valentine’s Day, a time of year when a sum equivalent to the GDP of a small country is spent on red roses, fancy chocolates and enormous, novelty padded cards. But who exactly was St Valentine? Valentinus, to give him his proper name, was supposedly a saint who lived in third-century Italy. Imprisoned for performing weddings for young soldiers who were forbidden to marry, and for ministering to Christians, he was apparently executed on 14 February 269. He inspired an entire tradition by penning the first “Valentine’s card” the night before he was executed. It was to his jailer’s daughter, and signed “your Valentine”. Around 1,200 years later, the royal court in England turned the saint’s day into a ritual of courtly love, and it has remained so ever since. Why not impress your loved one with a Valentine’s cocktail by mixing them a Honey Bee Mine?

3 spoons runny honey
2 shots light white
rum
⅛ shot vanilla extract
¾ shot Champagne Brut.

Stir honey with rum in base of shaker to dissolve honey.

Add vanilla extract, shake with ice and strain into chilled glass.

Top with champagne.

Garnish with honey comb.

Extracted from Difford’s Guide: 365 Days of Cocktails. Available here