Goal
Turn a peanut butter and jelly sandwich into a cocktail.
Method
Peanut butter fat wash Maker’s mark. Maker’s is quite soft, wheaty, and I think it will perfectly capture that soft white bread from my childhood. It should carry the bread flavor as well as the peanut butter flavor if it carries over from the fat wash. Based on my experience in fat washing with cocoa butter, I am optimistic that we’ll get plenty of flavor from the peanut butter wash.
When concord grapes are in season the plan is to make a cheong with them and compare that to a concord grape syrup. I am expecting this to be pretty strong so restraint will be key. Start with one barspoon and move up until it bullies the wheat and peanut butter flavorings.
Bitters is still in progress but, and I know this goes against the formula, I don’t know that it needs bitters. If anything, black walnut bitters might help tie everything together with a bit of dark notes. Orange might help brighten the concord. I don’t think aromatic is the way to go here.
Garnish with a roasted peanut, maybe one of the cheong grapes. I think the pick should immediately tell you what you’re in for.
Edits
As of August 2026 – Peanut infusion works quite well. Pulverized peanuts infused first, then peanut oil fat wash at 20% weight results in a perfectly legible peanut and soft wheat spirit. Currently waiting to find Concord grapes. If the grapes prove overly difficult I will be testing this with a concord grape jam converted to simple syrup.
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