FIELD GUIDE · TASTE
A sweet tea bourbon punch with sorghum and cider, for the first cool evening and everybody who shows up for it.
There is a certain kind of evening the Lowcountry saves up all summer and hands over sometime in October: the first one cool enough to sit on the porch past dark without a fan going. Nobody plans a party for it. It just turns out that the neighbors are walking by, and somebody’s cousin is in town, and the light is doing that thing it does in the fall, and before long there are more people on the steps than there are chairs. This punch is for that evening.
Sweet tea and bourbon were always going to end up together. Every host on the coast has a version, and most start the same way: a pitcher of tea, a bottle of whiskey, and a discussion about proportions.
Ours leans into the season. Sorghum syrup does the sweetening instead of sugar, which gives the tea a rounder, molasses-deep flavor that can hold its own against bourbon without tipping into dessert. Fresh apple cider takes the place of the lemonade you’d pour in July. A strip of orange peel and a cinnamon stick go into the steep, so the spice is in the tea itself rather than floating on top. And it’s poured over a single block of ice, not a tray of cubes, so the last glass tastes like the first.
Serve it from whatever holds the most. If there’s a punch bowl in the house, the silver one from the wedding, the pressed-glass one with the little cups that hang off the rim, this is the night it finally earns its shelf space. Pretty things are for using. If there isn’t, the biggest pitcher you own works exactly as well; the bowl was never the point. Make the tea in the afternoon, build the punch when the first car turns into the drive, and hand the ladle to whoever arrives next.
Ingredients
Yields 8–10 servings
4 cups water
4 black tea bags
2 wide strips orange peel
1 cinnamon stick
½ cup sorghum syrup
2 cups fresh apple cider, chilled
1½ cups bourbon (your choice)
¼ cup fresh lemon juice
1 lemon, sliced into wheels
1 large block of ice
1 cup club soda (optional)
Preparation
The night before, freeze water in a loaf pan for the ice block.
Bring the water to a boil, remove from heat, and add the tea bags, orange peel, and cinnamon stick. Steep 5 minutes, no longer. Remove the tea bags without squeezing. Stir in the sorghum while the tea is hot until it dissolves. Cool with the peel and cinnamon in, then strain and refrigerate until cold, at least 2 hours.
In a punch bowl or large pitcher, combine the tea, cider, bourbon, and lemon juice. Stir and taste; adjust with more lemon or a spoonful more sorghum. Add the ice block and float the lemon wheels on top. Top with club soda just before serving if you want a little lift.
For a bowl everyone can drink from, leave out the bourbon; the tea-and-cider base stands on its own.
Sorghum note: If you cannot find pure sorghum syrup, mix ⅓ cup honey plus 2 tablespoons molasses.
From the Field Guide of the Fall 2026 issue. Read the digital edition.
