The opposite day I used to be pondering of cocktails that have been fall and winter-friendly. Calvados (apple brandy) in fact is at all times in season, however I additionally had a bottle of spiced pear liqueur from St. George Spirits in California available that has a stunning pear taste mingled with a bouquet of spices, that I’ve been that means to include right into a cocktail.
I had a hunch that it could be well-paired with French apple brandy, and that hunch proved appropriate on this Far From the Tree cocktail, a nod to the expression that “the apple doesn’t fall removed from the tree” because the apple brandy – and the glowing apple cider – fell into my kitchen, that are fairly removed from any timber. However fortunately, all of them made it into my glass.
(And I’m hoping that each one made sense. I’ve been making an attempt to translate some American expressions for my French associate, particularly “They drank the Kool-Help,” which I’ve determined simply isn’t translatable.)
The Spiced Pear Liqueur is made by St. George spirits, a distiller in my previous stomping grounds of Alameda, California. I knew the founder, Jörg Rupf, who began distilling European-style spirits within the San Francisco Bay Space in 1982. On the time, few knew what eau-de vie was.
Jörg was a wealth of data and I at all times realized one thing once I hung out with him, and was shocked when he instructed me in the future that it took round 50 kilos (23kg) of Bartlett pears to make only one bottle of pear eau-de-vie, and he laughed that his largest restaurant account bought solely a half bottle of eau-de-vie each two months. He reveled within the bounty of fantastic produce in California, making eau-de-vie from every part, together with kiwifruit, apples, raspberries, pears, and even holly berries.
Sooner or later whereas on the distillery he gave me a sip of apple brandy which he’d made however promptly forgot about, which was much like Calvados, however with out the terroir. (To be referred to as “Calvados” the apple brandy must be made in Normandy with solely sure kinds of native apples, with a number of pears added for his or her aroma, and have to be aged in wood barrels for a minimum of two years.) His apple brandy had been sitting in a barrel for ten years and when he found it, it was scrumptious.
Jörg finally retired from distilling and bought the corporate, which continues to be going sturdy, and St. George Spirits beneath grasp distiller Lance Winters, continues to make wonderful liqueurs that embody gin and different distillations (they now name their eau-de vie “brandy”), absinthe, vodka (together with a inexperienced chile one), shochu and Bruto Americano, a botanically-rich various to Campari that I notably get pleasure from, with no synthetic colorant, made with an expressive mix of native botanicals and different elements.
However even in the event you’re not in Normandy, or Northern California, and much from an apple (or pear) tree, you possibly can nonetheless get pleasure from these fall and winter flavors in a cocktail.
Far From the Tree
- 2 ounces Calvados
- 1/2 ounce candy vermouth
- 1/2 ounce St. George spiced pear liqueur
- glowing exhausting cider or glowing wine
Forestall your display screen from going darkish
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Add the Calvados, candy vermouth, and pear liqueur to a cocktail mixing glass.
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Fill the glass two-thirds stuffed with ice and stir briskly till well-chilled, about 15 seconds. Pressure into a relaxing coupe glass. Add an ice dice and a splash of sparking cider.
