Pear Delight

PEAR DELIGHT
I can't even think of new names anymore :D

Hey everyone! A few days back I ended up making a cocktail with some wintery-notes in it! I introduce you the Pear Delight. As some might know, soon after creating this drink I realized how silly I've been, using the same "delight" suffix in an earlier cocktail back in the summer! But that got me thinking (finally). Back then I used Absolut's flavored vodka, this time I used one also so I might as well call any cocktail with Absolut's [insert flavor here] a "X Delight" :D :D

So what's this drink all about? Winter. Apples, pears, cinnamon and love:

• 2 cl Absolut Pears
• 2 cl Xanté
• 1 cl cinnamon syrup
• 4 cl premium apple juice
• 1 star anise, burned

I managed to get a hold on to some organic apple & pear juice, which in my opinion would well enhance the flavor profile of this cocktail. It cost me a small fortune but what the heck!

Shake everything except the star anise in a shaker, strain into a chilled coupe. Take a star anise and burn it with a torch for a few seconds, smother the flame and drop it on the drink.

This cocktail was smooth in texture, full-bodied and tasted great with that hint of liquorice coming from the garnish. Of course using a clear apple juice will result in a clear(er) drink, but I recommend any high quality apple juice for this one

Ginger Martini

GINGER MARTINI

Evening everyone! Here's a cocktail I picked up from a food&drink magazine while at the barber shop (I'm so fresh&clean right now). It also traces back (kinda) memories because the main ingredient here is Xanté, a pear-cognac liqueur. The thing is, for a long long time I looked Xanté down for one (vain) reason. It was my...25th (?) birthday and a friend of mine asked what I wanted. I told him to get me a glass of Amaretto (I love that stuff). As the story goes, they didn't have any (!) at the bar so my friend asked the bartender to give something "similar". So what I got was Xanté. Nope, not an overly-sweet (mild) almondy liqueur but a strong pear-cocgnac one. At the time I couldn't drink it.

Ever since that I felt Xanté was a bad product. Yes, I was young and didn't know better (and to be honest the ideology behind my hatred was simply immature) but...last year I found out how horribly wrong I've been all these years. A few days ago I tried Xanté with hot chocolate, it worked! The possibilites are endless but only my stubbornness was getting in the way.

So today I grabbed the bull by the horns and this is what we have; the Ginger Martini (yea it's technically not a martini since it doesn't have vermouth in it. Hey I didn't come up with the name :D)

• 4 cl Xanté
• 2 table spoons of sugar
• juice from ½ a lemon
• ~1 cm piece of fresh ginger

Put everything in a shaker, muddle the ginger properly, add ice and shake vigorously. Double strain into a cocktail glass and garnish with a piece of ginger (as seen on the picture).

I got to say, this is one great cocktail! I can taste each ingredient individually, the lemon, spiky ginger and notes of pear! Yummy! This cocktail has that ZING! It's a super fresh cocktail!

All in all, the Ginger Martini has won my heart. It's a good cocktail.