Covers & Cocktails: Southern Hospitality

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and have recovered from your food comas! Now, I have mentioned before that I hail from Florida and while that may conjure images of Florida Man or sunny beaches, I grew up in North Florida. And North Florida is a whole ‘nother beast. It’s essentially South Georgia, which is why this week’s cocktail inspiration was such a siren song for me.

I have a complicated relationship with my home state. I kind of hate it, but there are things about the South that I dearly miss. Fireflies. Publix. Sweet tea. And Sweet Tea and Sympathy by Molly Harper is like a balm for my sometimes homesick soul. The drink I made is incredibly simple and versatile. We all have our drinking idiosyncrasies, so I like making something that can be personalized to individual tastes. It’s a peach Arnold Palmer that I’m calling Southern Hospitality.

With sweet tea in the title, it was a given that I’d be including that in the drink. Let me warn you though that this is going to venture into rant territory for a minute.

New Englanders, listen up. Giving me sugar packets with my iced tea is not how sweet tea is made. Not even close. I end up with lightly sweetened tea, with sporadic sips of grainy sugar still undissolved at the bottom of my glass. To make actual sweet tea, you have to brew it hot and incorporate the sugar during that process. Then, let it cool and pop it in the fridge. I remember when I first moved here and was told I could “sweeten in myself.” I was aghast.

Lemonade also makes me think of the South in that you might think it’s sweet, but Southern hospitality has a bit of tartness to it. A liquid version of “bless your heart,” if you will. Lemonade conjures images of porch swings and the cruel humidity that comes with summer (and most other seasons).

The book takes place in Georgia, which is where the peach element comes in. I mention in the most recent Hide Your Wallet that the set up reminds me of the movie Sweet Home Alabama with Reese Witherspoon and I’m happy to report that I wasn’t too far off the mark.

 

Shopping list:
Lemon vodka
Sweet tea
Peach juice or syrup

Proportions:
6 oz peach juice
5 oz sweet tea
4 oz vodka

You can easily just pour this over ice and give it a stir. Or if you need to work out some aggression, use a shaker to mix it all up before pouring it into a glass.

Modifications and notes:

• As I mentioned before, this drink is incredibly customizable. You can switch up the flavors by using lemonade and sweet tea vodka, though I personally find that sweet tea vodka tastes remotely like sweet tea. Or…use both vodkas for more of a punch and then add regular sweet tea and peach juice.
• Regarding the proportions, I know it looks like a lot. I wanted to fill my mason jar glass (naturally), so I used that amount. Adjust as needed for however big or small your drinking jar is.
• The peach juice or should I saw “peach nectar” I used was found in the organic section. It’s a rather light taste, so you have to use a bit of it to really taste any peach flavor. You might be better off finding a peach syrup or using the juice from canned peaches for a richer, thicker flavor.
• Though you’re free to use whatever sort of vodka you want, I really do recommend Deep Eddy Lemon Vodka. They also have some other flavors I’m dying try like Ruby Red Grapefruit. They do a great job of packing their vodka with significant flavor.
• If you’re blessed to live by a Publix, you can definitely use some of their premade sweet tea rather than brewing your own.

Drink up!