When you read one of Charles Baker’s Gentlemen’s Companions you’re in for a delightful romp through his travels, misfortunes, egotism, and name-dropping. They’re lively and fun reads. When you try to parse a recipe from one of Charles Baker’s Gentlemen’s Companions you’re in for a headache. By way of example, here’s the text from Baker’s description of the Pendennis Club cocktail:

“THE PENDENNIS CLUB’S FAMOUS SPECIAL
To 1 jigger of dry gin add 1/2 jigger of the best dry apricot brandy procurable. Squeeze in the juice of 1 lime or 1/2 a small lemon, strained of course, and trim with 2 dashes of Peychaud’s bitters which has been made for generations in New orleans…Split a ripe kumquat, now available during the winter in most big grocery or fruit stores; take out the seeds and put the two halves in a Manhattan glass. Stir the drink like a Martini with lots of cracked ice and strain onto the golden fruit. This is a sweeter Grande Bretagne, see Page 47.”

I’ll hand this to the man, by the time you’re breathlessly done reading his recipe entries, you’re certainly ready for a drink. Fortunately, thanks to the efforts of Martin Doudoroff (one of the fine people behind cocktaildb.com) and St. John Frizell³³ there is a “Charles H. Baker, Jr. Companion” that assembles the recipes into a more readable and usable format. You know, a Companion to the Companions, so to speak. Many of Baker’s recipes are suspect at best and absymal at their worst, and the Bumblebee is a nice gem found in the pages of Baker’s South American Gentlemen’s Companion. It is a deceptive drink in that it looks simple enough but reveals a lot about the quality of your rum and the fastidiousness of your preparation when it’s served. Here’s the recipe excerpted from the book:

The BUMBLE-BEE COCKTAIIL–May God Forgive the British-Inspired Pun-Title–a Nice Rum-Honey Thought from Georgetown, British Guiana.

That same old world-wandering friend J.K.L. Ponsonby-Foulcques, the “Jekyll” of Bin-’n'-Gitters fame, Page 24 gave us this unusual, simple yet satisfying drink, also. Mix in shaker:

• 2 oz best medium dark rum
• 1 1/2 to 2 tsp strained honey
• 2 tsp or so, lime Juice
• 2 tsp fresh egg white
• Curl Orange Peel
• Drops Angostura

Shake hard with big ice and strain into pre-chilled stemmed cocktail glass. Dot with 3 or 4 drops Angostura Bitters, and twist curl of orange peel over finished drink for fragrant scent.

I was introduced to the Bumblebee by the fine work they do at Heaven’s Dog in San Francisco and love this drink when the seasons change between summer and fall. Using an aged rum with no small amount of “oomph” is paramount in this drink. Something along the lines of Angostura 1919, Appleton V/X, or Clement VSOP will bring their character through the egg white and honey without overpowering the drink. Too dark or light a rum, however, and the Bumblebee loses its charm.

The proportions of lime juice and honey can be toyed with and doing so is a good exercise in discovering how a rum’s character is affected and brought out by the changes. As for the egg white, measuring out 2tsp can be troublesome so I highly suggest placing an egg white or three in one of those condiment squeeze bottles you see at picnics and cook-outs and dispensing a carefully-measured amount of egg white. Using too much or too little egg will surely kill the drink (thanks to Rumdood for the dispensing tip). It’s a temperamental drink, I’ll admit.

Give this drink a try and practice your dry shaking to get a good froth on top of the drink as it’s key to getting the drops of Angostura to sit properly and keep them from dissolving the foam and sinking down into the drink before their time. My thanks to Erik Ellestad for the full excerpt from the South American Gentlemen’s Companion. On Baker’s writing, I’ll quote my good friend Doug who said, “He’d have been the greatest cocktail blogger of all time.” Likely true, likely true…the bastard.

1. who, if you’re ever in need of child-naming advice, is the man to go to333

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