Cocktail of the week: Helen Graves’ peach and maple old fashioned – recipe

While I do enjoy a herbal or fruit tea of an evening, I’m also impressed by how well teabags infuse their flavour into booze. Since peaches can be an unreliable fruit, I find that using peach-flavoured teabags instead gets the job done very consistently.

Peach and maple old fashioned

Serves 4

1½ tbsp maple syrup
250ml bourbon
1 dash Angostura bitters
1 peach and orange teabag, or 1 plain peach teabag
Soda water, to top (optional)
4 strips orange peel, to garnish

Put the maple syrup, bourbon and bitters in a shaker and shake to combine. Pour into a jar or other sealable container, add the teabag and leave to infuse for a couple of hours, or overnight.

Remove and discard the teabag, then pour the infused booze into four old fashioned glasses or tumblers. Top with a dash of soda water, if you like, garnish with a strip of orange peel and serve.

• This is an edited extract from BBQ Days, BBQ Nights: Barbecue Recipes for Year-Round Feasting, by Helen Graves, published by Hardie Grant at £22. To order a copy for £19.36, go to guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply