It’s just a lot to say to a bartender, don’t you think? So we make these at home. Ours are packed with so much flavor and my home-bartender is cuter than most. I had a mule the other night at a local restaurant and it reminded me that I had this recipe to post. I started it in October when pears were falling from the sky and we made a couple of these on a warm evening ~ thinking this would be good on a cold evening as well. The nice thing about this recipe is, there are lots of pears in markets right now so you can easily craft yourself a good drink with all the proper ingredients. Cheers to fall and holiday madness!
You’ll want to start with your pear ginger simple syrup.
INGREDIENTS
For the Pear Ginger Simple Syrup (Makes enough for 4-5 cocktails)
- 1/2 C water
- 1/2 C honey
- 1/4 C fresh organic ginger, chopped or grated
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 3-4 medium organic ripe pears, chopped (approximately 2 cups)
In a medium size sauce pan on medium-high heat add water, honey, ginger, cinnamon stick and chopped pears. Bring to a boil and maintain boil for about 45 seconds. Reduce heat to low and let simmer for 15 minutes. Pears should be soft and syrup slightly thickened. When done, strain syrup over a bowl, glass jar or glass pitcher. Discard ginger, cinnamon and pears. Cool iremaining syrup n refrigerator until ready to make your cocktails. Mixture can be made up to 5 days ahead of use.
Makes 1 cocktail
- 2 oz bourbon
- 2 oz pear ginger simply syrup
- 1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice
- ice cubes
- ginger ale
- lemon peel
- fresh thyme sprig
- sliced pear
In a shaker filled with crushed ice, add bourbon, pear ginger simple syrup, lemon juice. Cap and give the ingredients a really good shake. Strain into an ice filled mule mug. Slowly add ginger ale to fill the mug. Give everything a stir and garnish with lemon peel, fresh thyme sprig and a slice of pear.
COOK’s NOTES:
- You can also make these with vodka which for me is sometimes preferable.
- Garnishing with cranberries would be a nice touch for this time of year. Making a skewer of sugared cranberries would be a gorgeous garnish. Here’s the recipe from my 2022 blog post: https://pepperandsaltkitchen.com/2022/12/14/spiced-sugared-cranberries-foyo-cocktails-and-charcuterie-boards/
