Ember & Quill
A stirred bourbon drink with pear liqueur, cinnamon syrup and aromatic bitters, served over a large ice cube with an orange peel and a pear fan.
Ingredients
- 2 oz / 60 ml Bourbon, 45 to 50% ABV
- 0.5 oz / 15 ml Pear liqueur
- 0.25 oz / 7.5 ml Cinnamon syrup (house, 1:1)House recipe in the batching and preparation notes.
- 2 dashes Angostura aromatic bitters
- Technique
- Stirred
- Glass
- Rocks
- Ice
- Large cube
- Prep
- 5 min · Intermediate
- Garnish
- Orange peel expressed and discarded; three thin pear slices fanned on the ice cube.
- Approximate strength
- about 29% ABV in the glass
- Allergens
- None listed
Method
Place one large clear ice cube in a rocks glass and set the glass aside so it begins to chill.
One clear cube, cut square, like a paperweight on the page.
Measure the bourbon, pear liqueur, cinnamon syrup and bitters into a mixing glass.
Ember first, then the quill, then the wax to seal them.
Fill the mixing glass three-quarters with cubed ice and stir steadily for 25 to 30 seconds, until the outside of the glass is cold to the touch and the drink has taken on a little water.30 sec
Stir without rushing; the drink is opening a book, not slamming one shut.
Strain over the large cube in the rocks glass.
Amber over glass, settling into stillness.
Cut a wide strip of orange peel, hold it skin side down over the glass and squeeze so the oils land on the surface, then wipe the rim with the peel and discard it.
A breath of orange oil, the smell of a letter just opened.
Cut three thin slices from a ripe but firm pear, fan them together and rest the fan on the cube so it leans against the glass. Serve.
Three pale pages, fanned where the reader left off.
Flavor notes
Oak, caramel and vanilla from the bourbon up front, ripe pear through the middle, cinnamon and clove-like bitters on the finish, orange oil on the nose. Medium-dry if the liqueur is a true fruit liqueur; the pear should read as fruit, not candy.
Substitutions
- Pear liqueur: Pear eau-de-vie (Poire Williams) at 0.25 oz (7.5 ml) plus 0.25 oz (7.5 ml) more cinnamon syrup · Drier and more perfumed; the drink loses some body and gains a sharper pear nose.
- Cinnamon syrup: Rich demerara syrup (2:1) at 0.25 oz (7.5 ml) with a pinch of ground cinnamon stirred in · A quick route if no cinnamon syrup is made; the spice reads dustier and less clean.
- Bourbon: Rye whiskey, same measure · Spicier and drier; raise the pear liqueur to 0.75 oz (22 ml) to keep the fruit in front.
Without alcohol
Stir 2 oz (60 ml) of a zero-proof oak-aged whiskey alternative with 1 oz (30 ml) cloudy pear juice, 0.25 oz (7.5 ml) cinnamon syrup and 2 dashes of a zero-proof aromatic bitters over ice for 20 seconds; strain over a large cube and garnish the same way. Fresh pear juice stands in for the liqueur's fruit, so cut the stir short to keep it from thinning.
Batching
House cinnamon syrup (the one house preparation in this drink): crack 4 cinnamon sticks (about 15 g) with the flat of a knife, combine with 1 cup (240 ml) water and 1 cup (200 g) white sugar in a small pan, bring to a simmer and stir until the sugar dissolves (about 2 minutes), remove from heat, cover and steep 1 hour, strain through a fine mesh, bottle and refrigerate; keeps about 3 weeks. Batch for 8 drinks: 16 oz (480 ml) bourbon, 4 oz (120 ml) pear liqueur, 2 oz (60 ml) cinnamon syrup, 16 dashes Angostura (about 0.5 oz / 15 ml). Stir together and refrigerate in a sealed bottle for up to a month. To serve without stirring, add 4 oz (120 ml) cold filtered water to the batch, keep it in the freezer for 2 hours, and pour 3.25 oz (97 ml) per drink straight over a large cube; otherwise stir 2.75 oz (82 ml) of the undiluted batch per drink as in the method.
Bourbon, pear and baking spice, stirred for the reading room
Late in the reading room, when the lamps have burned down to a low orange and the ledger is nearly closed, this is the glass that sits beside the inkwell. Bourbon is the ember: oak, caramel and a warmth that settles in the chest. Pear is the quill, a clean line of orchard fruit drawn straight through the whiskey. Cinnamon and aromatic bitters hold the two together the way wax holds a seal. Stirred slowly, served on one clear cube, and meant to be read without hurry.