Bourbon and Books: Reel

The Story Under the Story

Every family has a Dessi Blue. A name that surfaces at the cookout when the plates are cleared and the ice is low — "Oh, you didn't know? Your great-aunt used to sing." One innocent thread, pulled loose, and suddenly you're hearing how she headlined the Palm Tavern in Chicago before she shared a stage with Billie Holiday in France. This July, we're pairing a book that lives in exactly that space — the glorious, half-remembered world of jazz, juke joints, and speakeasies — with a bourbon cocktail built to loosen those stories from where they hide.

The book is Reel by Kennedy Ryan. The pour is the Juke Joint Julep. And both are made for a summer evening when the conversation goes somewhere real.

The Book: Reel by Kennedy Ryan

Summer is always the right season for a steamy romance, and Reel does not disappoint — with a bonus for those of us who love a little historical fiction folded in. This one leans more fiction than history, but it takes you straight back to the age of jazz, juke joints, and the Harlem Renaissance in full bloom.

At the center are Neevah, a rising movie star, and Canon, a moody, guarded director — a will-they-won't-they that we all know is a will-they. Both arrive carrying a great deal: Neevah with a fractured, painfully justified distance from her family, and Canon closed off by the grief of losing his mother. Their chemistry is undeniable, set against the friction of a workplace romance and Neevah's very real struggle with lupus.

But here's the thing — to me, that's not even the main story. The heart of Reel belongs to Dessi Blue: the historical figure whose life Neevah and Canon are bringing to the silver screen. Alabama-born and raised, Dessi heads to the big city to make it big, and despite prejudice, disrespect, and every odd stacked against a Black woman in show business, she finds success here and across Europe. Hers is a story of forbidden love and impossible choices — the dream you chase and the dream you sacrifice to reach it. I could have read a whole novel on Dessi alone. But hearing her through Neevah and Canon's eyes, and watching it reshape their love in real time, is its own quiet magic.

Dessi's story is exactly the kind of history that unfurls over a good glass — a testament to enduring Black excellence and the mark we've always left on the world, even when the annals of time tried to forget it.

The Pairing: The Juke Joint Julep

Glass Coupe 

1.5 oz | New Dawn Bourbon 

¾ oz Grapefruit juice 

½ oz Lime juice 

½ oz | Mint syrup

Pinch of salt 

3 dashes Fee Brothers Fee Foam 

Method: Combine the bourbon through the Fee Foam in a shaker with ice. Shake until foamy. Strain into a chilled coupe.

Garnish: A pinch of Cajun seasoning across the foam.

The julep is Southern to its bones — porch drinks, long evenings, mint from the garden. We took that lineage and gave it a New Orleans turn: grapefruit and lime for brightness, a whisper of salt, and a finishing pinch of Cajun seasoning that lands like the last note of a horn solo. It's a drink with a juke joint in it. Refreshing enough for the cookout, layered enough for the story you're about to tell.

The Whiskey: 6-Year Cask Strength Bourbon

This julep works because the bourbon underneath it refuses to disappear. Our 6-Year Cask Strength — 70% corn, 15% rye, 15% barley, from organic New York grain aged in the Catskills — carries a rich nose of cherry, chocolate, and vanilla, with the backbone to stand up to grapefruit and citrus instead of drowning in them. It's small-batch, additive-free, and bottled at cask strength, so every sip keeps its shape. This is what makes bourbon the sophisticated equal of any wine you'd bring to the table — and then some.

Sip With Purpose

Reel reminds us that some stories only survive because someone chose to tell them. That's the whole spirit of New Dawn: heritage in the glass, the courage to reclaim what was nearly lost, and a reason to gather. This summer, let the Juke Joint Julep be the thread someone pulls at your cookout — tell me more — and see where your own Dessi Blue takes the evening.