Sparkling Pear Whiskey Cocktail

Had an overripe pear to use up and was craving a cocktail, so decided to surf the interwebs to see if anything caught my fancy -- and, of course, something we had the ingredients to make. Enter the Sparkling Bourbon Pear Cocktail from Serious Eats, which we adjusted down from party size, and modified slightly.

Starting with one pear, we sliced it up, put it in a 9" cake pan, and roasted it at 375 degrees for 18 minutes.

In a blender, we squeezed one lime (didn't have lemon), and sprinkled in about 1/8 teaspoon of ground cloves.

The pear is supposed to be left to cool to room temp after baking, but we didn't have the patience for that and popped it in the fridge for 5-10 minutes. Then we added it to the blender, along with 1 ice cube, and pureed the mixture.

Once we saw how much pear puree that yielded, we added half as much maple syrup,

and twice the amount of Corner Creek bourbon whiskey. Blend again.
Pour that puree into two glasses (it's thick!) and then add champagne to taste. Give it a gentle stir to incorporate, but don't be so rigorous that you destroy the bubbles from the champagne.

We used a Riesling Brut from Weingut Geschwister Kowerich (Mosel, Germany). It was cozy and delicious! I can definitely see doing a big batch in the fall for Thanksgiving or Christmas. It was perfect for our rainy, windy, Oregon weekend.

Great Portland Wine Bar ~ with a Bonus Oscar Prediction

We heard about Pairings Portland wine shop more than a year ago from a Twitter comrade, but since it's on the east side, it took us forever to get across the river and visit. Better late than never!

The owner, Jeff, prides himself on a sense of humor, quirkiness, and a fun, approachable take on wine. He's a little obsessive (in a good way) about pairings. He'll pair wine to Harry Potter or other characters, to songs and bands, to movies and TV shows, to moods, dog breeds and astrological signs.
The day we were there, he had a tasting flight that was pairing wines to the ladies nominated for Best Actress at the Oscars. 

Cate Blanchett (Carol) was represented by a rose described as "elegant, hidden, a classic, cool, elusive".

Jennifer Lawrence (Joy) was represented by a rose brut described as "inspirational, bubbly, entrepreneurial, persevering".

Charlotte Rampling (45 Years) was represented by a blanco described as "assured, compassionate, modest, coupled yet solitary".

Soris Ronan (Brooklyn) was represented by a grinolino d'asti described as "young, beguiling, homesick, faithful".

Brie Larson (Room) was represented by a montefalco rosso riserva described as "strong, isolated, unexpected".

I haven't seen any of these films, so I have to make my Oscar Best Actress prediction based on my favorite tasting among this group. Before I spoil that segment of the show, I'll share that Jeff gave us a little taste of one of his own creations, a wine cocktail he named "Doctor Greg". It's a wine and vermouth combination that smells clean - almost like fresh laundry, but on the tongue it's fruity and herbaceous - very interesting.

Ok, unlike the Oscar broadcast, I won't make you wait 3 hours for the Best Actress winner:

I predict Brie Larson! The Fongoli Montefalco Rosso was just divine!

Wine pairing with Halloween Candy!

From Vivino: "The Halloween Survival Guide For Adults" -- an app/chart that tells you exactly which red or white you should be drinking with your candy of choice.
M&Ms with Syrah, please!

Enjoy!

Divine Summer Cocktail Recipe!

Just add sunshine!

Ok, so we modified the "Fruit Champagne" recipe from The Bartender's Guide to suit what we had on hand, and the results were AMAZING!

6 oz hand-squeezed grapefruit juice
2-1/4 oz blackberry brandy {We used a luscious blackberry liqueur from Brandy Peak Distillery in Brookings, Oregon}.
1 oz cognac
Champagne for topping up {We used Kramer sparkling "Celebrate!" muller-thurgau from the Yamhill-Carlton region of Oregon}.

Shake the grapefruit juice, brandy, and cognac over ice in a shaker and strain into a champagne glass. Top up with sparkling wine. Enjoy! Preferably outside!!!

Ooops... My Bad!

Silly name ~ nice cocktail ~ for those now-in-season grapefruits!

This fantastic recipe comes from Dark Spirits: 200 Classy Concoctions Starring Bourbon, Brandy, Scotch, Whiskey, Rum and More ~ Since it's grapefruit season, we decided to try it, but it would be equally refreshing in the summer.

It's called Up In Mabel's Room ~ silly name, in my opinion.

We started by making simple syrup. Here's one recipe: water and sugar in about equal quantities, slow boil, while stirring until sugar dissolves, let cool).

So while that cooled, we squeezed the juice of one grapefruit.

We chose a Pomelo but you could use any type just fine. This Pomelo is shown next to a regular grapefruit.

We plan to try others and see what we like best. Ruby reds would be sweeter.

The Pomelos are huge, so we got 4 servings and still had leftover juice. They're supposedly great in salads, as the sections don't fall apart easily.

What you'll need for 2 servings:

cracked ice
3 oz Rye whiskey -- we chose two types to test out what we liked better
1.5 oz freshly squeezed grapefruit juice
1.5 oz simple syrup (honey could substitute)

Fill a cocktail shaker halfway with the ice. Add the other ingredients.

Shake well. Strain into 2 cocktail glasses (see top photo of this post). We gave our martini glasses to Goodwill not long ago, so used small wine glasses.

The Sazerac version had a nice color, and a crisp, tart flavor. Definite winter baking spice elements. Would be quite refreshing on a warm day. After that, we tried another version with Stone Barn Brandyworks' unoaked rye whiskey. They are local to Portland and use Bob's Red Mill rye to make their rye whiskey.

The end-result color was pale, so this rye seems better suited for a ruby red grapefruit that would impart better color. However...

The Stone Barn version let the grapefruit flavor come forward more than the Sazerac, and it had less of the tart flavor -- more sweetness and anise -- so take that into consideration, as you might want to reduce the amount of simple syrup, especially if you go with a ruby red grapefruit for this recipe. Tell us in the Comments what you've been experimenting with lately!

Phew!