Enjoyed: Friday, May 14, 2021

Listed on the menu: Yes, as Driving Miss Daisy.

Ingredients: 18th Street Distillery/Lincoln Flats Cabernet Barrel Finished Bourbon, simple syrup, bitters, soda water, muddled orange slice, muddled Luxardo cherry.

The occasion: Friday night dinner with my sister and youngest niece. This restaurant and bar is on a corner of the main street of downtown Valparaiso, and people were everywhere, enjoying the warmer weather. This was also the first time I drank with my niece since she turned 21 last summer. (Thanks, pandemic!)

My rating: **** out of 5. The drink was a tad sweeter than I prefer, but very smooth, probably due to the popular signature bourbon, made in (believe it or not) my hometown of Hammond, Indiana. 

Final thoughts: I should have ordered a neat shot of the signature bourbon, to savor it without the bitters et al., but our server suggested I start with a shot of Old 55 Indiana Sweet Corn bourbon, made entirely of Hoosier corn and n other grains. I will try most anything once, but I was not impressed, regardless of the price tag. (Tasted like moonshine to me.) Then again, when you are dining in Indiana and in a town known for its popcorn festival, I suppose you need to sample all sorts of corn products.