A John Daly with a twist

 Hello, friend,

Can you believe that summer is almost over?? That’s a piece of news that's hard to swallow. Soon I will be back to school and starting my senior year of college. Truthfully, I’m genuinely excited about this year. I have a feeling it’s going to be a great year. I hope to make the most of it! But that’s in the future, as of lately, it’s been too freaking hot here in the Midwest. Ugh!! The high humidity has been a lot to handle. It makes me feel sorry for the construction workers having to work out on the roads all day. It makes me wish for autumn where I can at least put on layers and not be sweat stricken sticking to the interior of my car. One can only hope (and wait!).

For all your sports fans, this weekend is the 2016 PGA Championship. Do I care? Not at all! So why did I make a John Daly? For two reasons; 1). I wanted to make lavender lemonade & 2). At the hotel, I’m interning at we make and bring our own version of a John Daly whenever we sponsor a hole for one of the surrounding golf outings. I was inspired to recreate my own. A little fun history: A John Daly is essentially the boozy uncle of an Arnold Palmer which is just the combination of lemonade and sweet tea. And both drinks are named after golfers who I didn’t know existed. The things you learn when standing in the hot sun all morning serving cocktails to sweaty golfers. Watching all the golfers do their ‘golf-thing’ made me really want to start golfing myself. Now all I need are friends who know how to golf. One step at a time.

For this John Daly, I made both lavender honey simple syrup and peach simple syrup. I was going to mix the lavender syrup in with the lemonade and the peach syrup in which the tea, but since I was making individual cocktails I decided to just skip the middle man and add the syrups into the cocktail separately. This cocktail is kind of amazing. It’s my first alcoholic recipe on the blog so you know it’s got to be good.  This isn’t a strong drink my aaaannny means, but it is surely refreshing. The lavender-honey syrup creates such a subtly sweet aroma to the drink while the peaches establish a mellower undertone. All in all, a refreshing drink that you are going to fall in love with. Dare I say it, it’s a hole in one. 

A John Daly with a twist
Original simple syrup recipes from Southern Fatty & here

Ingredients

            Lavender honey simple syrup (makes 1 ¼ cup)

1 cup honey

½ cup sugar

1 cup water

1 tablespoon lavender

Peach simple syrup (makes 1 ¼ cup)

2 cups sugar

1 cup water

1-2 peach, sliced (frozen can be used after thawed)

½ teaspoon lemon juice  

            Lemonade

¾ cups fresh squeezed lemon juice

3 cups cold water

For the John Daly

~ 1 serving

1 ½ oz. vodka

1 ½ oz. unsweetened tea

3 oz. unsweetened lemonade

1 ½ oz. peach simple syrup

1 ½ oz. lavender honey simple syrup

~ 7 servings (served in a 2-quart pitcher)

1 ¼ cups Vodka

1 ¼ cups unsweetened tea

2 ½ cups unsweetened lemonade

1 ¼ cup peach simple syrup

1 ¼ cup lavender honey simple syrup

Directions

For the lavender honey syrup: Bring water and lavender buds to a boil in a saucepan. Add the sugar and honey and stir constantly until sugar is completely dissolved. Reduce heat and simmer for roughly 5 minutes. Remove from heat, allow to cool, strain and store in a mason jar. Refrigerate until cool. It will keep for about 1 week.

For the peach syrup. Bring water and sugar to a boil. Add peaches and lemon juice and stir well. Reduce to simmer after sugar is completely dissolved. Crush peaches when soft to release more flavor into the syrup. Reduce to a simmer, cover and cook down, roughly 25-30 minutes. Remove from heat and strain peaches from the syrup. Store in a mason jar. Refrigerate until cool. It will keep for about 1 week.

For the Lemonade. Combine the lemon juice and water into a 3 cup mason jar or large pitcher and stir until combined.

Assembly. In a glass (or in a pitcher if serving for a crowd) full of ice, add the vodka, tea, lemonade, and syrups. Stir to combine. Note: if you want a less sweet cocktail, use only ¾ oz. of the syrups. Top with a sprig of mint and a slice of lemon. Serve immediately.

{click here for the printable recipe}