Today, the main focus will be on a special drink that was the result of some thought experiments around the pears. I really wanted to make a drink with bourbon or rye whiskey and a pear distillate and here I also had some ginger in mind. How exactly I would create this drink was not quite clear to me at first. My initial thoughts have been about a kind of sour cocktail, whereas I find sours in principle rather simple and personally prefer drinks that consist exclusively of alcoholic ingredients (granted, a source of sweetness like in an Old Fashioned may also be part of it). So I thought a little bit further. (provided test products)*

In the end, I chose the really interesting Speckbirne from the assortment of the Freimeisterkollektiv. More about the Freimeisterkollektiv can be found in this article, where I also link to other bottlings from the series (and correlating cocktails) and explain the basics. So here is just this much: The Freimeisterkollektiv Speckbirne is a product of Josef Farthofer (about Josef Farthofer I have put something on imaginary paper here), which is a mixture of must from the pear variant called Speckbirne (I really don’t know its English name) and pear eau de vie. The model for this was the French tradition of Pineau des Charentes (I have already written about this, too). With an abv of 18.2%, the Freimeisterkollektiv Speckbirne finally finds its way into the bottle.

Besides the Speckbirne – as the other half of the split base for the drink listed below – stood the Freimeisterkollektiv Dark Rye. It is produced by the Austrian Jasmin Haider-Stadler, who has been running the J. Haider whisky distillery, founded in 1995, since 2016. For this rye, a base of 100% dark roasted rye malt from the Plohberger malthouse was used. Finally, the pot still rye distillate is aged for three years in a cask of local oak, in which a Trockenbeerenauslese (that is also the English designation) was previously kept. It is then finally bottled at an abv of 46%.

Finally, I have chosen the very beautiful Dwersteg Ginger Liqueur. Only recently, I also used the Dwersteg Orange Liqueur and was quite taken by it. The ginger version is also a liqueur based on wine distillate, sweetened with acacia honey and given its fresh spiciness by ginger essence. With 30% vol. it also offers a nice alcohol strength.

My drink called “Rear Cocktail” (the simple combination of Rye and Pear) gets some more depth through a Dash of The Bitter Truth Bogart’s Bitters and a bar spoon of Freimeisterkollektiv Rosmarin (Geist). This rosemary eau de vie – like the wonderful Krauseminze (Spearmint) eau de vie (about which I have written here) – was distilled by Georg Hiebl and once again manages to capture the essence of rosemary in a wonderful way. In combination, the result is a wonderful drink, which is not too sweet, but not too dry either. A nice medium drink for everyone who does not necessarily need juice in his or her drink.

Recipe “Rear Cocktail”:

3 cl Freimeisterkollektiv Speckbirne
3 cl Freimeisterkollektiv Dark Rye
1 cl Dwersteg Ginger liqueur
1 bar spoon Freimeisterkollektiv Rosmarin (Geist)
1 Dash The Bitter Truth Bogart’s Bitters

Preparation: Stir all ingredients cold on ice and strain into a pre-cooled glass.

Glass: Goblet

Garnish: small rosemary branch

Buying sources: In specialized trade or online

*The fact that these products have been sent to me free of charge for editorial purposes does not – in any way – imply any influence on the content of this article or my rating. On the contrary, it is always an indispensable condition for me to be able to review without any external influence.