Tag Archives: williams

Williams Pear Brandy

Pear brandies are one of the richest tasting ever made. That’s why they are on a quite high-priced level and not so rare on the market. Pear is a perfect fruit for brandy production because of its strong aroma and sugar saturation. Thanks to wits of ordinary people some regular sorts of pear were able to ascend to a higher level of both quality and recognition.

Williams pear brandy is one of those thanks to two factors, design, and taste. You might think, “design can’t be so important when it comes to brandy”, but in this case, it’s a whole different story. The bottle of this brandy is pear-shaped and to make things better inside of the bottle there is a whole ripe pear! When the fruit is still young and small bottle is attached to it. The pear grows inside of the bottle, and when it’s ready for picking it stays inside. Brandy is poured over. This affects both visual effect and the overall taste of the brandy.

The brandy itself is made out of ripe pears, which are first crushed and then left to rest. After the distillation, the liquor goes straight to oak barrels where it spends two years. Over this period of time, the drink matures perfectly, soaking oak scent notes, while at the same time pear sweetness blends with alcohol. The final product is a nice smelling and very smooth brandy.

With a fresh fruit inside both taste and aroma are becoming more intense. If you are not that sentimental, you can break the bottle and eat the pear. The fruit is fully soaked with brandy which makes it almost liquid. Be aware, one slice of this pear is very strong, so don’t eat too much. It can seriously get you drunk.

The texture of the brandy is dense. Thanks to this feature this brandy is smooth and simply glide through your throat. Aftertaste is floral, leaving the pure pleasure on the pallet. Williams pear brandy gets the highest marks on my chart and I highly recommend it to everyone who likes strong, but sweet liquors.

Pear Ricky Cocktail

by discoginferno.wordpress.com

pear brandy

1½ ozs. dry pear brandy (birnebrande)

¼ large lime
Iced club soda
2 wedge slices fresh ripe pear
Put three ice cubes into 8-oz. glass. Add pear brandy. Squeeze lime above drink and drop into glass. Add soda. Stir. Fasten the pear slices to a cocktail spear and place across rim of glass. Munch pear piecemeal while you drink.

For this recipe I used Okanagan Spirits Poire Williams Pear Brandy, which I picked up on a recent tour of their Vernon distillery.

This is a very refreshing summer drink, light and dry and aromatic. The delightful pear flavour of the Poire Williams shines through, but is also nicely balanced by the lime. This is one I will definitely make again.

The Rickey dates back to the late 19th century, but the PH&BB is the earliest reference I’ve found so far to the pear variety. It shows up a few places online, occasionally calling specifically for ½ oz. lime juice, and sometimes including a bit of simple syrup.