Apple-Pear Infused Bourbon

Name: Apple-Pear Infused Bourbon
Ingredients: 1¾ liters Bourbon — Yup...an entire handle; 2 Apples — The sweeter the better; 2 Pears; ½ cup brown sugar; ½ cup maple syrup; 2 cinnamon sticks

other · bourbon

Closer to a science project than a cocktail, and the only one in the book you start in one month and drink in the next. Baking the fruit first is the step that matters, because raw apple in bourbon tastes like a lunchbox, so wait for it to go properly soft. It takes a month, which is a long time to stare at a jar and ask whether it's ready yet.

Ingredients

1¾ litersBourbon — Yup...an entire handle
2Apples — The sweeter the better
2Pears
½ cupbrown sugar
½ cupmaple syrup
2cinnamon sticks

Method

Dice the apples and pears, toss them in a bowl with the brown sugar and maple syrup, and spread them on a baking sheet. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until the fruit is soft. Let the fruit cool completely, then put it in a sealable jar of one to two gallons. Add the whole handle of bourbon and the cinnamon sticks, seal it, and leave it for 30 days. Give it a stir about once a week. This is an infusion, so it is stirred and never shaken. When the month is up, strain the fruit out and pour the bourbon back into its original bottle. Strain carefully, since you want it clean.

Steve’s notes

Give it the full 30 days; pull it early and you'll taste the difference. Strain it clean, and be careful with the fruit. I sometimes puree it and put a barspoon full into my Old Fashioned, but it's deadly.

Short an ingredient?

Missing something for the Apple-Pear Infused Bourbon?

Ask SteveBot what else works.

Ask him