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The other day I was thinking of co*cktails that were fall and winter-friendly. Calvados (apple brandy) of course is always in season, but I also had a bottle of spiced pear liqueur from St. George Spirits in California on hand that has a lovely pear flavor mingled with a bouquet of spices, that I’ve been meaning to incorporate into a co*cktail.
I had a hunch that it would be well-paired with French apple brandy, and that hunch proved correct in this Far From the Tree co*cktail, a nod to the expression that “the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree” as the apple brandy – and the sparkling apple cider – fell into my kitchen, which are quite far from any trees. But happily, they all made it into my glass.
(And I’m hoping that all made sense. I’ve been trying to translate some American expressions for my French partner, especially “They drank the Kool-Aid,” which I’ve decided just isn’t translatable.)
The Spiced Pear Liqueur is made by St. George spirits, a distiller in my old stomping grounds of Alameda, California. I knew the founder, Jörg Rupf, who started distilling European-style spirits in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1982. At the time, few knew what eau-de vie was.
Jörg was a wealth of knowledge and I always learned something when I spent time with him, and was surprised when he told me one day that it took around 50 pounds (23kg) of Bartlett pears to make just one bottle of pear eau-de-vie, and he laughed that his biggest restaurant account sold only a half bottle of eau-de-vie every two months. He reveled in the bounty of excellent produce in California, making eau-de-vie from everything, including kiwifruit, apples, raspberries, pears, and even holly berries.
One day while at the distillery he gave me a sip of apple brandy which he’d made but promptly forgot about, which was similar to Calvados, but without the terroir. (To be called “Calvados” the apple brandy has to be made in Normandy with only certain varieties of local apples, with a few pears added for their aroma, and must be aged in wooden barrels for at least two years.) His apple brandy had been sitting in a barrel for ten years and when he discovered it, it was delicious.
Jörg eventually retired from distilling and sold the company, which is still going strong, and St. George Spirits under master distiller Lance Winters, continues to make excellent liqueurs that include gin and other distillations (they now call their eau-de vie “brandy”), absinthe, vodka (including a green chile one), shochu and Bruto Americano, a botanically-rich alternative to Campari that I particularly enjoy, with no artificial colorant, made with an expressive blend of local botanicals and other ingredients.
But even if you’re not in Normandy, or Northern California, and far from an apple (or pear) tree, you can still enjoy these fall and winter flavors in a co*cktail.
Far From the Tree
If you can't get the spiced pear liqueur, you could use a good-quality triple sec, orange liqueur (such as Grand Marnier) or another good fruit-based liqueur. Allspice Dram (homemade or store-bought) is another possible liqueur to use, which has spicy notes.
Be sure to use a slightly larger coupe glass if you have it, since depending on the size of your ice cube, you want there to be enough room for the sparkling cider on top.
Course Drinks
- 2 ounces Calvados
- 1/2 ounce sweet vermouth
- 1/2 ounce St. George spiced pear liqueur
- sparkling hard cider or sparkling wine
Add the Calvados, sweet vermouth, and pear liqueur to a co*cktail mixing glass.
Fill the glass two-thirds full of ice and stir briskly until well-chilled, about 15 seconds. Strain into a chilled coupe glass. Add an ice cube and a splash of sparking cider.
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