Fall must be on its way. I’m sure most of you would guess I know that because of a cooling off in the weather and a shortening of the days. NOT. The weather here is so not cool. Hahaha. I know it because of the change in my drink preferences. Right around this time of year I start craving something heavier than my normal summertime choices of white wine, hard seltzer, or, God forbid, Smirnoff Ice. But when the air starts smelling of the pungent sweetness that means fall is on its way, my taste buds start to change too. At that point, nothing quite satisfies me like really good Bourbon.
But hey, summer isn’t even close to over, and I don’t want to live my life wishing away my favorite parts (summer is my second favorite season–fall is first). So I want to make sure I still enjoy every last drop of the beautiful flavors and feelings of summer. So how do I balance this thirst for a change with a longing to hold on? Enter the Bourbon Honey Lemonade.
“Lemonade” is sortof a wide term here. No store bought lemonade is ever going to live up to a stellar Bourbon like Four Roses Small Batch or even Bulleit. It’s real lemons or bust. The brightness of a real lemon, mellowed out by some honey simple syrup (if you have home grown honey, even better), and combined with the dark intensity of a sweet and pungent Bourbon is seriously all that is needed on these slightly-shorter, but still hot, late summer’s nights.
So make sure to continue enjoying the summer in the moment. Just because fall is almost here doesn’t mean there isn’t more of the summer left to enjoy. Soak up as much as you can for as long as you can before the days of sweaters, boots, red wine, and pumpkin spice everything are too-quickly upon us. And in the meantime, allow yourself to sip many many more summer cocktails on the patio while you’re still able. Happy Cooking!
- 2 oz. Bourbon
- Juice of ½ Lemon
- ½ oz. Honey Simple Syrup (1/2 Cup Honey to ¼ Cup Water)
- Heat up simple syrup in a small sauce pan until incorporated.
- Take off heat and store in small jar in refrigerator.
- Add Bourbon, Lemon Juice, and Simple Syrup to Highball Glass over Crushed Ice.
- Stir well.
- Serve.
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