Redeemed Leftovers: Peach-Rum Syrup

Hey—maybe not my most innovative, but it’s a small triumph when my leftovers don’t actually creep me out. One summer Sunday evening, I was trying to be seasonal and also not end dinner with a huge blob of fat for dessert. So I poached peaches. They were pretty cool, as that sort of thing goes. I added some gold Jamaica rum to the syrup—maybe a quarter to a half a cup. So at the end there was this slightly peach and rum flavored byproduct that was too good to discard. It was so subtle that a recipe didn’t immediately come to mind, but I figured I’d stick in anything that called for simple syrup. No longer would it be That Weird Thing I Made but an actual ingredient—one that plays well with brown booze. I’ll be poaching fruit for dessert again soon.



Savannah Sazerac

• 2 oz rye (Sazerac)
• 1/2 tsp leftover peach-rum syrup
• 1/4 tsp absinthe
• 6 dashes Peychaud’s bitters
• 2-3 drops Angostura bitters
• Lemon twist

Stir with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Express the lemon oil from the twist along the rim of the glass and over the drink, and drop it in or discard it.
SOURCE: COMPOSITE, ADAPTED BY ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE



Brugal Old Fashioned

• 2 oz Brugal Añejo rum
• 1 tsp leftover peach-rum syrup
• 1-2 dashes Angostura Bitters
• 1-2 dashes Peychaud’s Bitters
• Splash of water
• Strip of lime peel

The lime peel only works with a fairly fresh, perky lime and a sharp vegetable peeler. Take a good-sized strip of green off the outside of the lime and bruise it well with a muddler in a glass with the syrup. Add the bitters and a piece of ice or two. Add the spirits and the splash, and give it a stir.
SOURCE: COMPOSITE, ADAPTED BY ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

I’d give you a recipe for poached peaches, but I don’t really remember exactly, and c’mon, it’s not brain surgery: peeled peach halves, sugar, water, rum at the end so you don’t cook it too much. Y’know—poached peaches.