It’s not your grandma’s sweet tea, but it has the same slow, sweet, Southern taste – and it’s actually infused with real tea leaves and locally produced Austin, Texas clover honey. You can even smell the happy, sunshine-laced scent of freshly brewed iced tea. Here are some drinks that will remind a Southern ex-pat of home:
LORENA'S DIVING HORSE
2oz Deep Eddy Sweet Tea Vodka
1oz Lemon Juice
½ oz Simple Syrup2 Basil Leaves
Combine, shake for 20 seconds, and strain over crushed iceinto a tumbler glass
Garnish with spanked basil leaves
THE HIGH TEA
1½ oz Deep Eddy Sweet Tea Vodka
2 Blackberries
4 Mint Leaves
1 oz Simple Champagne Syrup
Muddle 2 blackberries and 4 mint leaves with ½ oz of champagne syrup
Add Deep Eddy Sweet Tea Vodka and shake
Strain into champagne flute and top off with champagne syrup
Garnish with a mint leaf or blackberry
Bursting with intense aromas of cassis, with hints of cedar, anise and cigar box. Wonderfully rich, with lots of dark berry fruit on the palate. This would work great along side braised buffalo or any red meat that utilizes nutmeg or cinnamon in its rub. $19.99
"Lodi's climate and soil are ideal for Petite Sirah production, which is why the area is the state's leading producer of this varietal." This wine uses rotary fermentation techniques, which insures that every characteristic and bit of flavor is extracted from the fruit. The wine is aged for 12 months in French oak barrels, concentrating its fruit and rounding out the flavors. Test this
The wine's color is dark purple and inky, a quality that is very indicative of Petite Sirah. Your nose may detect aromas of blackberry jam, underbrush, fall spices, and rosemary. The palate offers an explosion of purple and dark fruits such as boysenberry, plum and sweet black cherry. Firm tannins persist throughout the finish with hints of smoke and dark chocolate. This wine calls for a grilled steak! $13.99
Peirano Estates has been farming vines in the Lodi appellation of northern California since the end of the 1800s. Italian immigrants brought Zinfandel vines with them in the hopes of striking it rich during the Gold Rush.
This Zinfandel is estate grown and made from 113 year old vines. The wine offers dark cherry aromas with mineral and earthy undertones. The palate is a velvety mixture of sweet red cherry, cocoa, and strawberry, with a hint of toast. $13.99
