The Roman poet Bacchus. So we're not too surprised it adds a bewitching tincture to the Bee's Kiss and works wonders for lifting spirits on evenings when you're feeling like an oaf. Reportedly, Zeus and Pythagoras kept their wits by adding a little honey to their libations.

Some people argue that besides being the world's oldest sweetener, honey is the oldest cure-all. By evening's end, your guests may attest to its soothing quality in a Bee's Kiss. But keep in mind all the hard work that the notorious insects go through to create honey. After all, less than 1/4 ounce of honey represents a heck of a lot of labor.

Maguelonne Toussaint-Samat, who made "Honey" his starting point in the History of Food, explains that it takes bees between 20,000 and 100,000 journeys to bring a single quart of nectar back to the hive, and five quarts of nectar make about one quart of honey. Bad karma is said to follow those who pilfer from bees. During the 16th century, several societies published a slew of engravings and writings with the words Non nobis, indicating that like the bees they themselves did not profit from their product.

Fortunately, the Bee's Kiss requires very little honey, though it is difficult to make. The ingredients - 1 ounce white rum, 1/4 ounce dark rum, 3/4 ounce cream, and 2 barspoons honey - are simple enough. But like other drinks with cream, such as the Ramos Fizz, achieving the proper consistency of froth isn't easy, and the honey only compounds the problem. If not mixed thoroughly, the honey will separate and settle to the glass's bottom. Plan on shaking each batch of drinks for about two to three minutes, until a rich foam forms; then serve promptly. Always use heavy cream when mixing a cocktail. Light whipping cream - though you might not guess from its name - rarely produces enough little bubbles.

If you're set on using low-fat cream, plan on plenty of trial and error before mixing. You may need to try several brands of cream before finding one that does more than add a synthetic taste to the drink. Personally, we'd throw caution to the wind. After all, using low-fat cream in a Bee's Kiss is like using Diet Coke in a Cuba Libre - why bother? Rum has enough calories to make any pretense of dieting ludicrous.

The Bee's Kiss is one of those few light dish.

Don't increase the amount of honey in hopes of intensifying its taste. More than a few barspoons will discourage the cream's froth and sink to the bottom. Before measuring honey, dip the barspoon into cooking oil. Then flick it into a sink or waste bucket several times, so that only a thin film remains. The oil lets the honey slip off quickly and easily from the spoon.

If you want to vary the sweetness of your Bee's Kiss, try specialty honeys from unique locales. James Trager in his Enriched Fortified, Concentrated, Country-Fresh, Lip-Smacking, Finger-Licking, International, Unexpurgated Foodbook lists a sampling of honeys 10 times longer than his book's title: "... raspberry honey and strong buckwheat honey from New Jersey, chewy dandelion honey from Colorado, tupelo honey from the swamps of Florida and Georgia, firewood honey ... from Oregon and Washington, river-willow honey from the banks of Mississippi...." Outside the United States, there are also hundreds of fine honeys, including the strong heather honey of the Landes area of France, the buckwheat honey of Brittany, and the acacia honey of Hungary.

Light-colored honey looks best in a Bee's Kiss - anything dark muddies the drink's appearance. There are three types of honey: "comb," straight from the hive; "chunk," with honeycomb bits; and "extracted," pasteurized to discourage crystallization. A quality honey, like good spirits, will probably cost you. Judge a honey by its label, which should include the floral origin and locale and no mention of unnatural flavorings. Always be suspicious of honey packed in plastic bears.

Although any honey can be used, the easiest to mix in cocktails is the extracted type, which can be measured straight into the cocktail. Traditionally, the Bee's Kiss is made by straining the chunk honey before adding it to the other ingredients. Even if your cocktail shaker has a strainer, use something else. The strainers of most shakers are designed only to keep ice and citrus pits, not bits of honeycomb, from falling into a drink.

If the nearly forgotten honey in your cupboard has granulated, place its container in hot water for a few minutes, then stir until the granules disappear. For those who want to experiment with honey in other drinks, be warned: This natural sweetener is about a fifth sweeter than granulated sugar and chemically acidic, so it rarely works well in cocktail recipes. If you have a penchant for honey concoctions, try a Hair of the Dog. If you're willing to experiment, honey mixed with a Benedictine, Kümmel, might suit your tastes.

As you and your guests sip Bee's Kisses, contemplate the task of stealing honey from bees. Maguelonne Toussaint-Samat points out that "collecting wild honey is not for the lazy, and greed alone is no guarantee of success.... Taking honey becomes a battle with its established rules, man against the bee's weapon, its sting. (However, the Meliponinae of South America, although dangerous because they will infiltrate every orifice in the body, have no stings. The Indians therefore regard honey as a vegetable product - i.e., feminine - like the 'original sin' of gluttony.)" Which brings us to our next digression: How the queen bee was considered a "he" until Dutch doctor Jan Swammerdam finally set the record straight in the 1600s....

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