It’s another special Holiday Creation for the #12DaysOfHolidayCocktails, and this is celebrating one very special icon in my life. In partnership with Johnnie Walker, I’m gifting Mama LC with a Johnnie Walker Icon Red Special Edition Bottle and, of course I had to pair a cocktail with it. I decided to keep things simple with this incredible Pear & Cardamom Old Fashioned recipe. Perfect to celebrate during the holidays and for any special person in your life!
During the holidays, I always look forward to a delicious spirit forward cocktail to sip by the christmas tree amongst loved ones. An Old Fashioned is almost always on the menu, and now that I know how much my mom loves them, I made this just for her.
As part of the ICON release with Johnnie Walker, this series honours the Icons and special people in your life. If you’ve been following Liquid Culture for some time now, then you know how important Mama LC is to the platform. Now that my mother is celebrating a new Grandmother status (and killing BTW!), I thought I would create something special for her.
Building your Pear & Cardamom Old Fashioned
The template of an Old Fashioned makes this such an easy cocktail to adapt to your own and to introduce new flavours. All you need is a quality spirit, sugar and some form of citrus. For the holidays, I thought I would pair up some flavours I know my mom LOVES, and would go well with the iconic Johnnie Walker Red. Pear and Cardamom are the star players here, by muddling fresh OVERRIPE pear and using Cardamom bitters.
Using an Overripe pear is so important because you’ll be able to extract a lot more flavour and sweetness for the cocktail. So if you have a bruised looking Pear that you really don’t want to throw out, I suggest this recipe! Now say you don’t have cardamom bitters? That’s okay, try to go with other warming spices such as cinnamon or nutmeg. If bitters are just not accessible to you, I’d even go one further step by using the real thing. For example, with Cardamom, I would toast up the Green Cardamom pods until fragrant and gently muddle it with the pear. Never shy away from experimenting, making it your own or using what you have in the house.
Johnnie Walker Icon Red played the star role here, and going for a quality whisky is key. Just ensure that the whisky you decide to use, compliments the flavours of the Pear and Cardamom shared here.
Curious how this cocktail is made? Check out the recipe below!
Pear & Cardamom Old Fashioned
We're stirring up a classic Old Fashioned infused with the flavours of Pear & Cardamom, plus the quality spirit of Johnnie Walker Icon Red.
– Difficulty: Intermediate
Ingredients
- 2 oz Johnnie Walker Red
- 1/4 of Overripe Pear
- 1 Brown Sugar Cube
- 3 Dashes Cardamom Bitters
- 2 Orange Peels
Instructions
- In a mixing glass, add your pear, bitters, sugar cube and orange peels. Muddle well until everything is dissolved to a pulp.
- Add your Johnnie Walker Red Whisky and fill mixing glass with ice.
- Stir well.
- Double strain over 1 large ice cube.
- Garnish with Pear Slice.
Looking for more Holiday Inspired Cocktails? Check out the link HERE for all the inspiration!
