When we picked up our first bottle of lavender bitters, we figured itd probably end up at the back of liquor cabinet along with all the other odd flavors we bought on a lark and never ended up using. Wed only seen a few drinks that made use of the stuff, and they were all soapy, overly-perfumed garbage. But we hung on to it, and were glad we did in the last few years, bartenders have turned their attentions to floral cocktails, and weve seen tons of amazing recipes with big, beautiful flower flavors. Analogues gin and juice, from new york citys analogue bar, is probably the leader of the pack when it comes to floral cocktails we just cant get enough of. They balance the lavender flavor with citrus and maraschino, and its just so delicate and ephemeral, slipping away like a dream with each sip. Youd think a floral gin like hendricks would be a shoe-in here, but we tried it and found it to be overpowering. Best to stick with a gin with a crisp, clean flavor profile at analogue, they use fords gin, a london dry.