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G&H Cocktail Club: Pear Ginger Collins

Welcome to the G & H Cocktail Club! Every week we bring you an exciting recipe with a story curated by bartender Mike Wolf.

The Pear Ginger Collins

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Like love at first sight, sometimes you just know. The first time I saw a bottle of Clear Creek’s Pear-In-The-Bottle Brandy, I wondered, like many who gaze upon its golden hue, how do they get the pear inside? It turns out, the only way to grow a pear inside of a bottle is to string the bottle up in a tree, place the young pear inside the bottle and allow it to mature. Once the pear has nearly filled up space at the bottom, it is ready to be fully submerged in delicious pear brandy.

If you’re unable to find Clear Creek’s Pear Brandy, I’d suggest an alternative that tastes like autumn in a glass: St. George’s Spiced Pear Liqueur. This aromatic delight has flavors of cinnamon, clove, and ripened pear. You can use it in cocktails as diverse as a Spiced Pear Old Fashioned (add a ¼ ounce to your usual Old Fashioned recipe) or a Spiced Pear Cosmo (add ½ ounce to your recipe in lieu of Cointreau). To boost your seasonal, artisanal at-home cocktail game, combine the pear brandy and spiced pear liqueur for a Collins that can be your reward for raking all those leaves. Pear and ginger are like old friends when it comes to flavor affinity, and the autumn spices help marry these two components.

One of the great things about creating variations of the traditional Collins template – gin and lemonade with soda – is that you don’t really need many tools to pull it off. Squeeze some fresh lemon into your glass, add your spirits and bitters, stir and top off with a sparkling beverage of your choice – and don’t forget the garnish. A little rosemary goes a long way aromatically, and it helps to soothe your mind as you realize the holidays are right around the corner. Don’t worry; getting through them won’t be nearly as hard as growing a pear inside a bottle.

Pear Ginger Collins

Prep Time: 5 min

Makes: 1 serving

Ingredients

  • 1.5 oz. Clear Creek Pear Brandy
  • .5 oz. St. George Spiced Pear Liqueur
  • .75 oz. Fresh lemon juice
  • 1 Dash of Angostura bitters
  • 5 oz. Ginger beer or ginger ale* (Blenheim of South Carolina is my favorite)
  • 1 Rosemary sprig for garnish

Directions

  1. Pour the first four ingredients over ice in a Collins or other tall glass and stir briskly for 10 seconds.
  2. Add the ginger beer or ginger ale and stir to incorporate.
  3. Add the rosemary sprig and enjoy.

Pro Tips

  • *Fever tree, Q, and Reed’s Jamaican Ginger Beer are all great for cocktails.

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