It is such an epically gorgeous Sunday. It’s about 70 or 75. The sun is out. The clouds are gone. If you sit near the window like I have been, it is warm and pretty soon you’ll be finding yourself wanting a nap. I had my nap, and honestly I’m having trouble doing anything else besides finishing reading Divergent (I got it yesterday… I’m nearly done. Hooray for teenage science fiction 🙂 ) and sipping on my bourbon lemonade friend here.

I mean, really – we even already have dinner basically done. A pork shoulder roast has been in the oven since noon and the house smells AMAZING and I am pretty much starving as I take it in. We worked hard today: a certain large, new piece of furniture is arriving on Wednesday (I’ll show you, don’t worry). We rearranged a significant chunk of the first floor to make a space for it. Plus I took the opportunity to majorly reorganize and clean up my craft/photo prop/cookbook area, aka a good-sized bookshelf that lives in our guest room. I feel like having done all of these things, our house is better than it was when we started the weekend. It is a great feeling. And I haven’t even cleaned the bathrooms yet.

Anyway, back to this cocktail: I made it because it felt like summer. It was perfect. I’ve had a million clear liquor + lemonade combinations in the past and they are all great, but in this case, I think it’s better with bourbon. (You can put that on my tombstone).

Here’s what you need:
Ice
Mint leaves (10ish in the bottom of the glass, a sprig or two for garnish)
1.5 oz fresh lemon juice
1/2 to 3/4 oz. simple syrup
2-3 dashes lemon bitters
2 oz. bourbon
Sparkling water/club soda to finish
Twist of lemon to garnish

Build the drink in the glass. Muddle the loose mint leaves in the bottom of the glass. Fill the glass with ice and then pour the lemon juice, syrup, bitters and bourbon over the ice.

Fill the rest of the glass with sparkling water and stir to combine. Garnish with more mint and a lemon twist.