WRRV’s 12 Days of Cocktails: Millstone Farm Spiced Pear Collins

The WRRV's 12 Days of Cocktails continues with a classic style of cocktail, a Collins. For more info on what makes up a Collins style of cocktail, scroll down.

Millstone Farm Pear Collin’s

Ingredients:

• ¾ parts Half Moon Gin
• ¾ parts Pear-Rosemary Puree (Recipe below)
• ¼ pts. Clove simple syrup, (Recipe below)
• ¼ pts. Fresh squeezed Lemon Juice
• Top with Prosecco

Fill a shaker with ice. Add the first four ingredients (basically, everything but the Prosecco). Shake the ingredients for approximatley 20 seconds. Then strain into a chilled martini glass. Top with Prosecco. For your garnish, use a full moon or full round slice of lime that has been stabbed with a sprig of fresh rosemary.

For the Pear –Rosemary Puree

• 6-8 medium pears, sliced without peels, cores or stems
• 3 oz fresh squeezed lemon juice
• 3 tsp fresh chopped rosemary

Puree the ingredients until fine & smooth. This makes enough for several cocktails. Refrigerate when done. This will last up to one week in the fridge. You can also add two tablespoons of this to a champagne glass and top with Prosecco as a different take on a Bellini.

For Clove simple syrup

• 6-8 whole cloves
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup water

Stir the water, sugar and cloves in a saucepan. Then bring a boil, then lower the temperature to a simmer. Allow to simmer for 15 minutes until sugar is completely disolved, the mixture is smooth and fragrant. Allow the syrup to cool, before using it in cocktails. The syrup will last up to two months if kept refrigerated.

On Day 4 of WRRV's 12 Days of Cocktails we told you about 'sours.' Today's geeky cocktail info is on 'Collins.' You might have heard of a Tom Collins or a vodka collins, (Tom being the traditional). A Collins is a cocktail that is made from gin, lemon juice, sugar, and carbonated water (or sparkling wine). The Tom, would refer to using an Old Tom Gin, which is a sweeter and sometimes aged type of gin. A vodka collins would replace the gin with vodka.

Share your new cocktail knowledge with your friends, but when they get annoyed with you for knowing so much about everything, get them a Collins, and know you are awesome!