12/15/2025
TIME OF DARKNESS (December 15 - 30)
By late December, the prairie enters its deepest hush. The sun lifts reluctantly above the horizon and seems to hover there, low and rosy, casting long shadows even at midday. Days compress into brief, dim corridors between long stretches of twilight. The darkness and cold this time of year feels almost architectural—something built and set around you, shaping how you move through the world. On the coldest nights, when the temperature plunges and the air crystallizes with each breath, the milky way emerges with a remarkable clarity. Freed from summer’s humidity and autumn’s haze, the stars burn vibrantly in the clean winter air.
And beneath this season’s heavy quiet, another truth stirs: the light is returning. The solstice marks the pivot, so subtle as to be almost imperceptible. Yet day after day, the sun lingers a little while longer. It is the first slow turning of the year. The earth tilts, the shadows shift, and somewhere deep in the soil, roots sense the faintest hint of change. In a landscape that can feel suspended between sleep and endurance, this growing light is a quiet promise—that the darkest day of the year is not the end of light, but its beginning.
SOLAR STORM COCKTAIL
Dark, bitter, and mineral, this version of the Dark and Stormy is darker and more contemplative. Bourbon brings warmth and structure, amaro adds bitterness, and ginger beer lifts the cocktail with an electric spice. It’s the light cracking through on a dark winter night.
THE RECIPE
- 1.5 oz bourbon
- .5 oz Ida Graves (amaro)
- .25 oz dark maple syrup
- 4 oz ginger beer
METHOD
1. Add ice to a tall Collins glass and add ginger beer and maple syrup. Stir slowly to incorporate maple syrup.
2. Pour bourbon and amaro over a bar spoon to float them on top of ginger beer.
3. Garnish with lime wedge.
