Made with fresh-brewed sweet tea and a mix of juices, Edley's Bourbon Tea is the ideal cocktail for the social event of the season: a socially distanced cookout.
Mark Harvey, the barbecue restaurant's creative director, says the cocktail is best described as a spiked Southern fruit tea.
"While you will commonly find someone at the bar having one all by itself, Edley's Bourbon Tea pairs really nicely with our smoked high-fat-content meats like pork, brisket or ribs," Harvey says of the drink. "The citrus flavors from the fresh orange, lemon and lime juice cut through those fats to cleanse your palate and make that next delicious, juicy bite of barbecue just as good as the last."
It's hard to find a combination that's more classically Southern than sweet tea, bourbon and barbecue.
"We use real Southern sweet tea brewed in our stores daily to give [our Bourbon Tea] a delightful taste of Grandma's kitchen table," says Harvey. "Our guests are always raving about how good our sweet tea is by itself, so if you like sweet tea and bourbon, this drink is definitely worth a try."
Even those who typically turn their noses up at the mention of bourbon may find this spiked tea to be their cookout cocktail match.
"The citrus flavors added to the muddle bring the sweet, caramel, oaky notes of the bourbon forward, while the mint leaves a refreshing finish you wouldn't normally get from some bourbon-centric cocktails," he explains.
Best of all, you can order the drink for takeout or delivery along with your barbecue.
Edley's Bourbon Tea
What you need:
Lemon wedge
Lime wedge
Orange wedge
5 mint leaves
2 ounces Evan Williams
1/8 ounce grenadine
6 ounces Edley's tea mix (2 parts Edley's sweet tea, 1 part pineapple juice, 1 part orange juice and 1 part lemonade)
What you do:
1. Muddle lemon, lime and orange wedges and mint leaves with Evan Williams in a 16-ounce glass.
2. Fill with ice and add tea mix directly into the glass.
3. Shake and top with grenadine.