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Dr. Dawn O’Neal has been into the environment since she was a young girl. “My father was an outdoorsman,” says the avid skier. “He joined the Ski Bums in Cleveland, which is associated with the all-Black National Brotherhood of Skiers. And in the summer, they’d go camping and do a canoe trip and I really got into that.”
She got into it so much that she majored in environmental sciences at Washington University in St. Louis and eventually got her Ph.D. in the field of evolution, ecology and behavior at Indiana University Bloomington. “I had the intention of studying disease ecology and immunology,” O’Neal admits. “I started with birds and did a brief postdoc in South Africa with African buffalo in Kruger National Park.”
However, she eventually moved into the field of Land Trust Nonprofit Conservation for nearly 10 years. “I started with a small, 2,000-acre preserve in upstate New York, then I went to the Nature Conservancy, and then finally I went to the National Audubon Society,” she recounts.
But O’Neal says she became burnt out from being the only Black person in the room for so many years. “I was tired of constantly pushing,” O’Neal laments. “And I thought, ‘How can I stay true to this passion of mine for the environment and still do something that I like?”
After several conversations with her career coach, she decided to take the leap and start her retirement dream early by founding the take the leap and start her retirement dream early by founding the sustainable distilling bourbon whiskey company – New Dawn Distilling.
Mixing Love of Bourbon and the Outdoors
“My dad and his family really introduced me to whiskey. He was into Jack Daniels, particularly Gentleman Jack,” notes O’Neal. “My whole family, including the women, would drink whiskey while playing Pokeno or dominoes. So I never had the perception that whiskey was masculine. In fact, when I think about a smoky room with leather furniture and smoking a cigar, I always see a bunch of really well-dressed women hanging out and talking and laughing,” she laughs.
O’Neal was able to start New Dawn Distilling by partnering with Alton Distillery in Bethel, New York, nestled in the Catskill Mountains. By allowing them to distill, age and bottle her spirits, O’Neal could start her business without having to get all of the capital needed to open her own distillery.
“That meant I could self-fund and not have to give up any part of my brand vision or values for somebody else,” O’Neal emphasizes. She adds, “Historically, we’ve been following what a lot of older white men say on how the industry is supposed to be. The wine industry is built upon Robert Mondavi’s palette. And I just want to say, ‘Hey, why don’t you guys try this Black lady’s palette!’ Variety is the spice of life and I want people to have that variety!”
New Dawn’s mission is to make really good whiskey without causing harm to the environment. “Sustainable distilling is really important to me because we need clean water if we’re going to be making distilled spirits, and everybody knows having good water is key,” O’Neal exclaims.
“People go on and on about the water in Kentucky and how it makes the most special Kentucky bourbon. I have lots of debates about that,” O’Neal admits. “But it’s the same thing in New York. People talk about how amazing New York water is and how that’s why the bagels are so good there. Our 10-Year Wheated Whiskey and the 6-Year Bourbon Whiskey are both made with New York water.”
According to its website, New Dawn craft spirits are distinguished by yearly small-batch releases that showcase vibrant flavors without additives or fillers and always considers the influence of climate.
When O’Neal started the company on November 1, 2023, the inaugural spirit was the New York 6-Year Old Bourbon Whiskey, which won a Silver Medal at the 2024 Spirits Rating and received recognition at the Taste of Black Spirits in Detroit.
“If you are into bourbons, you will 100 percent love sipping it neat on a little ice or a little water,” states O’Neal. “And if you are into cocktails, you will be shocked how wonderful this goes in most, if not all, cocktails,” she boasts.
This year, for their first anniversary, O’Neal debuted her New York 10-Year-Old Wheated Whiskey. “It is truly the bourbon that I was thinking about when I first started this journey,” O’Neal says with pride. “I wanted an elegant, classy bourbon that gives what I call ‘boss lady vibes.’It’s the bourbon I think of when I want to celebrate and say, ‘I rocked it today!’”
She adds, “It’s very bold and has more heat on it than the 6-Year Bourbon. It’s a slow-sipper for sitting and talking and enjoying life, and it’s just a whole experience.”
Sustainable Distilling from Grain to Glass
So what is the whole experience of creating sustainable distilling?“Having our bourbons produced and bottled in New York fits in with our sustainability efforts,” notes O’Neal. “The goal is not to have to ship bourbon to a bottling plant and then ship it to a warehouse, which adds to the carbon footprint.”
She continues, “I’m also interested in the white oak [tree], which isn’t doing that great. There are a lot of efforts to improve the health of the white oak because they are crucial if you want to call it bourbon. So I’m getting comfortable, and wanting to get other people comfortable, with having bourbon evolve from white oak and look into using other woods, especially those that are more sustainable right now than oak, so we can let oak recover for a little while.”
Here’s how O’Neal explains sustainable distilling from grain to glass. “It’s looking across your entire supply chain and thinking how you can make this better for your environment at each step,” she states. “So, you can start with how you get your grains because that’s one of the key aspects of distilling. Can I use organic or things without a lot of pesticides? Can we be regenerative or improve on the land we’re using? Are they locally sourced, so we can cut down on our carbon footprint? Where are we getting our water? How are we dealing with our waste? How heavy is my bottle? Is it recycled? Is it recyclable? When we’re shipping our bottles, are we doing it with the lowest carbon footprint?”
She says, “Right now, if you order a bottle online, because of a retailer I’m using, it comes wrapped in plastic. Can we go towards paper packaging? It doesn’t happen overnight; you have to take several baby steps.”
In the Holiday Spirits
Baby steps for people who don’t usually drink bourbon whiskey is to start with cocktails. “I like being able to make a beverage that can appeal to a lot of people – those who like their whiskey a little stronger, those who are somewhere in the middle and those who are just stepping their toe in the pool, and cocktails are great for that,” O’Neal suggests.
“It’s a great way to be an entry point for newbies.” She continues, “I have a bunch of friends who really didn’t drink bourbon before I came out with the New Dawn 6-Year Bourbon, but now they are avid consumers,” she exclaims. “My cousin, Stephanie, is a die-hard with the Gold Rush cocktail, which is essentially a cold hot toddy with a lemon and honey mix added with the bourbon.”
O’Neal boasts, “We have a handful of signature cocktails we created and you won’t find them anywhere else.” She continues, “We have the French Entanglement and the French Situationship and they are the cocktails I pour most frequently at tastings. The French Entanglement is New Dawn and Grand Marnier in one to one. And the French Situationship is New Dawn and Amaretto in one to one,” she describes them.
“Those two cocktails are some of our most popular because they’re very easy to make, but also, people take the names seriously. Some will say, ‘Well, I only want to be in entanglements’ or ‘I’m always in a situationship,’” she laughs.
O’Neal says the holidays are a great time to enjoy her spirits and cocktails. “I released the 10-year Wheated Whiskey during the holidays because I feel like it’s the type of spirit that you’d want to gift to people and share at your family gatherings,” she notes.
“At Christmas, it’s perfect for when the kids have gone to bed and before Santa comes, taking a moment to relax and make it that first toast of the evening.” For thisholiday season, she’s introducing a Sweet Potato Shy Martini cocktail with the 6-Year Bourbon. O’Neal shares, “It tastes like sweet potato pie in a glass and would make a great hostess gift for Thanksgiving.”
Other popular cocktails include 40 Acres and a Mule, which O’Neal created for Juneteenth; The Spicey Ecologist; Caribbean Bourbon Queen, which O’Neal says gives rum punch vibes; Midnight in Kas, which is an ode to O’Neal’s Turkish husband; and the Bourbon Summer Fruit Smash.
“People called it the bourbon smoothy,” laughs O’Neal. She adds, “I’m about to release The Gospel Truth cocktail. It has grapefruit juice in it, which is different from the classic Old Fashions and Manhattans made with bourbon.”
The cocktail recipes can be found on the New Dawn Distilling website, and fans can watch O’Neal make some of those cocktails on the YouTube page. “Many people have said that I need to start making ready-to-drink cocktails using the 6-Year Bourbon and I’m thinking about it,” she confides.
Breaking Glass Bottles and Glass Ceilings
O’Neal is also thinking about more changes that can be made for sustainable distilling.“I’d really love for us to be doubling down on this idea of organic and regenerative grains,” she imparts. “There’ve been a couple of companies that have gone back to heirloom grains. The theory is that those grains are supposed to be grown here and that’s less intense to the environment.”
She continues, “I’d also like to see bottles become lighter in weight and to see them be recycled and reused. The distillery we’re working with for our new 2025 release is using a ‘frugal pack’ system, which is a paper bottle system. And I am very intrigued by it. It’s very sturdy but so lightweight. It would do wonders in terms of lowering the carbon footprint and even the shipping costs.” But she warns, “Some people want to see the color of the spirits, so they won’t like the idea of a paper bottle. Still, small changes like that can build up to making a huge impact.”
“One thing I didn’t realize getting into the spirits industry is that it isn’t as diverse as it appears from the outside,” O’Neal laments. “Only two percent of executive positions are held by Black people. So I’m trying to add to that and get it at least up to three percent,” she states firmly.
But she does see signs of hope. “I am seeing other Black women in the spirits industry – Tales of the Cocktail Foundation, Taste of Black Spirits, Sista Supply Chain Network – and it shocked me,” she says, pleasantly surprised. “I am so glad to be here as a Black woman because I am no longer the ‘only,’ like I was in my previous jobs.”
She continues, “And I am so appreciative of the Black people who have come before me in this industry who are tearing down glass ceilings and paving the way. They inspire me! I love that we are not in competition with each other, instead, we are constantly trying to lift each other up.”
New Dawn Distilling is also trying to lift others up, as well as pay it forward to like-minded organizations. “The majority of the companies I’ve been working with have been Black-owned and women-owned,” she emphasizes.
“Also, one percent of our proceeds are being donated to social and environmental justice programs [such as Soul Fire Farm and the National Black Environmental Justice Network]. And I have circled back to work with the Nature Conservancy to use bourbon as a case study, if you will, on how to talk about things like regenerative agriculture, saving oak forests and water conservation.”
RELATED: The Difference Between Bourbon and Whiskey Explained
New Year, New Dawn
“For the immediate future, I want to go into stores and I want to do more tastings,” O’Neal projects. “I love getting out in front of people and seeing their faces when they try and like my wonderful spirits. And next spring, we’ll debut a California 5-Year Rye Whiskey that’s distilled, aged and bottled at Sonoma Distilling Company.”
But the entrepreneur has more long-term dreams. “Mezcals are something I really want to bring to people for more variety, because you don’t typically think of it as craft Mezcal. So it has the opportunity for us to do some really excellent collaborations and community building in Oaxaca, Mexico.”
She adds dreamily, “I’d love to do a Southern whiskey series where I can showcase Southern distilleries in Louisiana, Georgia, Mississippi and Alabama and I’d call it The Southern Belle Series,” she chuckles.
But no matter what New Dawn does in the future, O’Neal says it will always be about the earth. “Saving the environment has been important to me since I was a kid,” she divulges. “I love being outside and love the beauty of nature. It’s a key part of my mental and overall health. And I would hate for us not to have this for future generations. New Dawn’ssustainable distilling is my way of leaving the world better than I found it.”
For more information on New Dawn Distilling visit the website and their Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube pages.
