Cocktail Friday: Brown Butter Old Fashioned with Peach + Sage
Brad and I were watching the news last night and there were so many terrible things in the headlines. Someone brought a gun into a school and open-fired. A mother and her toddler son were stabbed (fortunately they are both OK) while out walking this morning. After those stories came images of abused pets. All of that happened within approximately 5 minutes. Sorry, I know that was a lot of heavy stuff. I try not to do that, but occasionally I get a little overwhelmed and it all just feels like too much. This is why I watch a very limited amount of the news.
So where's the joy, you ask? Where are the people who restore our hope in humanity? This week, I found them at my church helping a huge number of people in need. I found them at the grocery store with kind smiles on their faces and stickers for my son. They were the teachers at my husband's school who are pouring their souls into their students before they've even met. Good things happen. It's hard to see the good out there sometimes. But I've been thinking that sometimes we need to acknowledge the bad to truly appreciate the good.
So there's that. There's all of that good vs. evil talk that I think inspired Friday evening happy hours where conversations around politics and people and travel and food launch us into the weekend. This cocktail is perfect for sipping between confident statements that could be wrong or offensive or right on the money. It's also perfect for savoring during these last weeks of summer. However you chose to enjoy this nutty and fresh spin on the Old Fashioned, I think you'll love it.
My inspiration for this cocktail came from a recipe for Peach Shortbread from Smitten Kitchen. The shortbread is made with brown butter and topped with fresh peach slices. It's amazing and so worth making. Even if it is a million degrees in your kitchen. Just suffer through the heat because it's worth it. Anyway, I made the short bread and fell in love all over again with brown butter. Between that and the fact that I'm up to my ears in peaches, I felt the need to make a cocktail with the same flavor profile.
The brown butter-infused bourbon (or whiskey) is the warm and comforting. The sweet, fresh peach juice and sage compliment the cocktail perfectly. Serving crispy sage leaves alongside the cocktail add to its charm and elegance. So, if you're as overwhelmed as I am with the world and life and all of that, maybe it's time to slow down and sip on one of these sophisticated cocktails while watching clouds float by in the late summer sky.
Brown Butter Old Fashioned with Peach + Sage
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 oz brown butter bourbon
- 2 tablespoons fresh peach juice (Allow fresh peach slices to sit in a bowl for 15 minutes and scoop out the juice from the bottom of the bowl. If the peaches are not juicy enough, add a little sugar to the peach slices.)
- 2-3 dashes Angostura bitters
- 1/4 teaspoon sugar
- Splash of club soda (optional)
- 4-5 sage leaves
- 2 tablespoons butter
- In the bottom of a high ball glass, combine the peach juice, sugar and bitters. Stir to combine.
- Place 1 or 2 large ice cubes in the glass (I used an ice ball mold. Ultimately you want something that will melt slowly.)
- Pour the whiskey over the ice and stir with a stir stick.
- Top with club soda if desired.
- Garnish with a peach slice and serve with crispy sage leaves on the side.
- In a saucepan, melt the butter over medium-high heat. When the butter has melted, add the sage leaves and fry for about 30 seconds, turning once. Watch carefully to make sure they don't burn.
- Transfer the leaves to a paper towel lined plate until ready to use.
