As the cascade of summer fruit begins to slow, the industrious among us—including the team at the San Juan Island Inn Collection—will turn to all the fruit they’ve managed to preserve to help get them through the colder months ahead. Dried fruits will brighten granolas, canned versions will grace dessert bowls, and the shrub—an old-fashioned fruit syrup that is generally a blend of equal parts fruit, sugar, and vinegar—can be combined with seltzer for a refreshing soda or mixed with a favorite spirit to warm a crisp night.
At Coho Restaurant, the ever-rotating cocktail menu showcases seasonal fruit shrubs throughout the year. Currently, guests are enjoying sipping the Pear Smash. The shrub itself includes ginger and cinnamon to spice up the sweet pear flavor, and the addition of lemon juice and Ghost Owl Whiskey from the Pacific Northwest’s Parliament Distillery bring it all into balance.
Special thanks to Coho Restaurant’s Lead Server Alex Adinolfi for demonstrating how she makes this stellar cocktail.
The Pear Smash
1 ½ oz housemade pear shrub
1 ½ oz Ghost Owl Whiskey
Juice of ½ a lemon
Method:
- Prepare the lemon twist
- Add one large ice cube or a few smaller cubes to a rocks glass. Measure the pear shrub, whiskey, and lemon juice into the glass and stir well.
- Run the lemon twist around the mouth of the glass and then slip it into the drink.
