The Provenance

Lavender is the cocktail garden's aristocrat — a woody Mediterranean perennial whose silver foliage and violet spikes hum with bees from late spring through summer and perfume the whole bed when you brush past. It earns its keep three ways: it feeds pollinators, it thrives on neglect, and — used with a light hand — it lends the glass a floral, honeyed, faintly resinous note that reads as pure craft. The nose on New Dawn’s bourbon already carries chamomile and sugar cane, so the lavender doesn't sit on top of the whiskey — it finishes a note the whiskey started. Used here in homemade lavender liqueur for a sophisticated Sidecar riff.

The Provenance Recipe

2 oz New Dawn Bourbon

¾ oz lavender liqueur*

¾ oz lemon juice

sugar rim

Combine ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake till cold and strain into coupe glass with a sugar rim. Homemade lavender liqueur: steep ½ cup fresh or dried lavender buds and leaves in 2 cup vodka or neutral grain spirit for 3-4 weeks, strain, then stir in ¼ -½ cup cooled simple syrup (equal parts sugar and water). Makes enough for many drinks; keeps refrigerated for weeks.