By Elana Lepkowski From Serious Eats

Aged spirits tend to get pushed to the back of the bar during the warmer months, making way for bright, peppery silver tequila-based margaritas and white rum mojitos. There’s a misconception that you need light spirits to help you get through a hot day. But if that were true, every Southerner sipping a mint julep in August would be wrong. Still, if you’re not feeling the bourbon, might I offer you a refreshing cocktail featuring aged cachaça instead?

If you’re unfamiliar with this Brazilian spirit, go ahead and read our cachaça guide, and then scoot back over here. Aged cachaça’s flavor might remind you of the funky nature of rhum agricole. The barrel-aging adds a hint of vanilla and oak, along with the spiced aroma one gets with aged rums. (Can’t find aged cachaça in your neighborhood? An aged rum like Flor de Caña 12 Year works well in this drink, too.)

Stone fruit are on their way into season, but these sensitive delicacies can always be hit or miss. That nectarine sure looks good, but biting into it you realize that it hasn’t reached its full, sweetened potential. The answer: throw it on the grill. You’ll bring out the sweetness and caramelize the sugars a bit. Throw in some slices from your sad sack of limes, too.

Since the grill is already hot, I recommend adding a few cherries to the mix on their own skewer. Have you ever grilled cherries before? Do it once, and you’ll likely be looking for excuses to try it again. The heat makes cherries burst into succulent smoky and deeply sweet bites; it’s pretty amazing what a few minutes on the grill can do.

The nectarine flavor really sings in this drink, and the cherries add wonderful richness. One might think these fruits would be heading you toward the overly-sweet side. But the lime, once grilled, actually takes on a slightly savory essence that only gets more earthy with the addition of lemon thyme.

And, now that we’ve gotten you outside on that grill, and there’s a little leftover space that’s not dedicated to cocktail ingredients, you might as well put on a few burgers and hot dogs, too.

Photographs: Elana Lepkowski

Recipe:

While habit drives many to favor clear spirits over their darker, aged counterparts on hot summer days, this refreshing cocktail featuring grilled fruit and aged cachaça proves habits are made for breaking.

Note: To make simple syrup, combine 1 cup water with 1 cup sugar in a small saucepan and heat over medium heat, stirring constantly, until sugar is dissolved. Cool before using. Simple syrup will keep in a sealed container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Lemon thyme can be found at most gourmet produce markets or farmer’s markets. If unavailable, use one sprig of regular thyme with a pinch of fresh lemon zest. If you don’t have aged cachaça, you can use an aged rum instead, such as Flor de Caña 12 Year.

GRILLED SUMMER SMASH

YIELD:

2 cocktails

ACTIVE TIME:

10 minutes

TOTAL TIME:

20 minutes

SPECIAL EQUIPMENT:

10-inch wooden skewers, muddler

Ingredients

1 nectarine, halved

1 lime, cut into 4 wheels

4 cherries

1/2 ounce simple syrup (see note above)

4 springs lemon thyme (see note above)

2 cups crushed ice

3 ounces aged cachaça, such as Novo Fogo Barrel-Aged (see note above)

Procedures

1 Soak wooden skewers in water for 30 minutes before using on the grill. Light one chimney full of charcoal. When all the charcoal is lit and covered with gray ash, pour out and arrange the coals on one side of the charcoal grate. Set cooking grate in place, cover grill and allow to preheat for 5 minutes. Alternatively, set half the burners on a gas grill to the highest heat setting, cover, and preheat for 10 minutes. Clean and oil the grilling grate.

2 Skewer halved nectarines, lime wheels, and cherries on three skewers (with one variety of fruit per skewer) and place over hot side of grill grill. Cook until fruit begins to bubble and char lines are visible on all sides, rotating as necessary, about 4 minutes for cherries and 8 to 10 minutes total for nectarines and limes. Remove from grill and let cool for 10 minutes. Cut nectarines into quarters.

3 For each drink, muddle 2 cherries, 2 lime wheels, 2 nectarine quarters, one sprig thyme, and 1/4 ounce simple syrup in the bottom of a rocks glass until nectarine is broken up. Remove lime wheels from glass. Pack 1/2 cup crushed ice. Add 1 1/2 ounces cachaça and stir gently. Pack 1/2 cup more crushed ice into glass and garnish with second thyme sprig. Repeat for second drink. Serve immediately.

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