Aqua Perfecta Pear Liqueur
10-Jun-2006
A couple of weeks ago, while in San Francisco, I visited the St. George Spirits distillery. I was lucky enough to get a sort of tour of the distillery and then spent some serious time in the tasting room, where I tasted all of their public offerings plus a few of their special distillations.
Here in Washington we know St George Spirits because of Hangar One vodkas but their line-up is actually much more extensive. 
They have an entire line-up of eaux de vie, grappa, whiskey and a couple of liqueurs. With so little of it being available here in Washington, I knew I wanted to bring something back but I was hard pressed to decide what to choose. I would have taken one of each but thinking about schlepping bottles through the airport brought me back to reality! Instead I limited myself to a few bottles, and picked a couple things I knew some friends would really enjoy.
They have an entire line-up of eaux de vie, grappa, whiskey and a couple of liqueurs. With so little of it being available here in Washington, I knew I wanted to bring something back but I was hard pressed to decide what to choose. I would have taken one of each but thinking about schlepping bottles through the airport brought me back to reality! Instead I limited myself to a few bottles, and picked a couple things I knew some friends would really enjoy.One of my choices was the Aqua Perfecta Pear Liqueur. These liqueurs are basically made from the same fruit used to make the eau de vie, and then fortified with the eau de vie. So you end up with a beautiful, fruit filled beverage that is about half the alcohol content of the eau de vie, and tastes as though you are eating the most perfect fruit, in this case pear, that you can imagine!
This nectar would be wonderful with any sort of pear or chocolate dessert but I think my favorite use might be to serve it after dinner along with a nice cheese plate. I’ve already sampled it along with some of my favorite blue cheese and the combination is outstanding – which makes perfect sense when you consider that one of my favorite snacks is blue cheese on pear slices.
If you are lucky enough to live in California you will probably be able to find this line in a local liquor store. The rest of us may not be so lucky but make a point to look – if you find it you will be very happy that you did!
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Culinary Fool 
hello,I\’m feng .I wanr make friend with you .
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Aren\’t there some vintners in Oregon who actually grow pears in the bottles that have their brandy in them? It was quite interesting….I seem to remember reading about it in the Times but haven\’t seen any. Your entry reminded me of that.
Cheers,
BH
Hi Bh!
Yep, Clear Creek Distillery in Oregon also makes some really beautiful small batch brandies, inlcuding one version of the pear with the pear in the bottle. The brandy is great and the pear in the bottle is very cool!
Additionally, McMenamins (of brewpub fame) has a distillery I just recently learned about so I\’ll be on a quest to find their products soon. They make whiskey, brandy and gin at their Edgefield location. I like this trend! :-)
~ B