Drank: Sweet Tea Liqueur (Townshend's)

By Matthew Korfhage

Why bother mixing tea with liquor like some Southern plantationer, when you can just make liquor directly from tea? Townshend's has been kicking out a fast-expanding array of local liquors distilled from tea—a smoky lapsang souchong likely good as a whiskey mixer, a somewhat abrasive spice tea thick with orange and ginger, a clear rose-petal spirit that runs viciously hot. But the best so far has been their basic sweet tea, distilled from black Ceylon leaf and cane sugar. At 70 proof, it's nonetheless disarmingly sweet, an easy sipper with ice and a spot of lemon or a dastardly mate to bourbon. Although we haven't yet tried it, the obvious addition is a muddled bit of mint. Recommended. 

WWeek 2015

Matthew Korfhage

Matthew Korfhage

Matthew Korfhage has lived in St. Louis, Chicago, Munich and Bordeaux, but comes from Portland, where he makes guides to the city and writes about food, booze and books. He likes the Oxford comma but can't use it in the newspaper.

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