little white lie: ya pear, cocchi americano, benedictine

A trip to the Chinese market yielded up all kinds of treasures, not least among them a pair of Ya Pears, a pear cultivar grown in Northern China. Its peel is almost white, and it has a light, floral flavor on top of the more usual pear notes.We juiced one towards the end of our most recent mixing session, and I did not have a strong idea of what to do with it. I remembered that pear goes well with white wine, so I haphazardly mixed up equal parts of the ya pear juice with cocchi americano. It was a surprisingly good ratio; the light flavor of the pear had room to breathe.

Little White Lie1.5 oz Finely Strained Ya Pear Juice1.5 oz Cocchi Americano.5 oz BenedictineShake over ice and double-strain into an old fashioned glass.Cut a pear to fit perfectly in the old fashioned glass, and chill it in the freezer. Drop it into the glass.

The floral aroma from the Ya pear was surprisingly potent, giving the drink a much more fragrant nose than I had anticipated. It served to highlight the distinctiveness of this particular cultivar of a pear; an unexpected slam dunk.In the recipe above, I wrote .5 oz of Benedictine, though when I made this drink at game-time we used .25 oz. I really liked the hint of cinnamon and brandy from the Benedictine, both of which go well with the pear, but they were too subtle, so I increased the amount for the final version.Cheers!