Smokey Niagara Peach Mule

If you’ve been tuned in to our Instagram lately, you may have noticed a recent staff highlight hinting to a special project we’ve been working on here at White Meadows Farms. As the Holiday season draws near, our wonderful team member Aarika has decided to spotlight some of her favourite maple products with a seasonal twist. Using our signature lineup of maple infused fruit sauces, pure maple products and some favourite local ingredients, let us introduce our Holiday Cocktail Series, as envisioned and curated by Aarika herself! 

To kick off the series, Aarika has chosen to highlight our Maple Peach Fruit Sauce in a Smokey Niagara Peach Mule. At first the peach element presented a real challenge – How can we use fresh summer flavours of peach and citrus in a cocktail fit for the Christmas season? As we transition into the inevitable winter days ahead, we can hold on to feelings of summer by incorporating bright flavours and elements of warmth into a festive classic cocktail.

The Smokey Niagara Peach Mule is the perfect introduction to our cocktail series as we ease into the final countdown to the most wonderful time of the year… 🎶

A Moscow Mule girl, Aarika called upon the influence of a Mule variation – the Kentucky Mule, which swaps the traditional vodka base for bourbon. Our Smokey Niagara Peach Mule uses impressive 100% Canadian Rye Whiskey from one of our local favourites – Dillon’s Distillers. We are so lucky to have neighbours like Dillon’s whose company values and dedication to their craft align so much with our own. Dillon’s Single Grain Rye Whisky is made with 100% rye grain and distilled in small batches — for a pure “grain-to-the-glass” spirit. There’s nothing we love more than pure, honest ingredients and superior quality. 

Using the darker spirit of Rye Whisky brings warmth to the drink that allows us to pair the bright flavours of peach and citrus with spicier notes of the ginger beer and cinnamon. What really takes this cocktail to a whole new level is the element of smoke. 

Smoke you say? Don’t I need fancy equipment and dedicated hours for a good smokey flavour…

Smoking cocktails have become more trendy than ever. Despite the market for smoking equipment being more widely available to the at home bartender, you really don’t have to go out of your way with this method. 

With a nod to our Sugar Bush Campout Lunch (coming March 2023!), Aarika found that torching a cinnamon stick and trapping the smoke with a cloche (or glass) was the easiest way to add the cinnamon-y smoke without being intimidating. Building the cocktail directly in the glass works best to keep all of the fruit and citrus bits inside the drink.

Adding a cloche to smoke directly in the glass rounds out our simple but exciting Holiday Maple Peach Experience 🍑

Cloche (noun)
🗣️ ˈklōsh
1: a bell- or dome-shaped cover 

Smokey Niagara Peach Mule

An elevated take on a Peach Kentucky Mule, reminiscent of bright summer flavours and our Sugarbush Campout experience as it carries both warmth and complexity of winter spices and smoke. 

Ingredients:

• 45 ml | 1 ½ oz Dillon’s Rye Whisky (for a Dry version, substitute with apple cider!)
• 30 ml | 2 tbsp White Meadows Farms Maple Peach Fruit Sauce
• 15 ml | ½ oz fresh lime juice
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 120 ml | 4 oz Muskoka Springs Stone Ginger Beer

 Garnish:

• Windwick Farm freeze dried peaches
• Lime twist
• Candied ginger
• Cinnamon stick

Instructions:

1. In a copper mug or highball glass, add whisky, peach sauce and lime juice. Stir together.
2. Torch the end of a cinnamon stick and place it in the glass, cloche to smoke.
3. Remove cloche and cinnamon stick.
4. Fill the smoked mug with ice and gently stir to chill. 
5. Top off with ginger beer.
6. Garnish as desired. We recommend Windwick Farm 100% Local freeze dried peaches, a lime wedge and candied ginger along with the smouldering cinnamon stick. 

Notes

• No fancy equipment needed to smoke the cocktail. You can use a candle flame or burner on a gas stove to light the cinnamon stick, and if the stick is shorter than the glass, you can cover the glass with a plate to trap the smoke instead of a cloche – just make sure to blow out any flame before covering to avoid burning the bottom of the plate.
• After smoking, make sure you tap away any excess ashes from the cinnamon stick before serving. Nobody wants ashes in their drink.
• Enjoy a mocktail version swapping out the rye whisky for equal parts apple cider. 

✨Stay tuned next week for our next fruit sauce cocktail creation!