Saint Ginger (St Germain and fresh ginger)

I stole the name, but the recipe is unique. And it has been killing me. Looks simple, until you hit the syrup.

Ingredients:

• 2 oz Sky Vodka
• 1.5 oz St Germain
• 1 oz lime juice
• 1.5 rich syrup with reduced asian pear and fresh ginger

Prepare the secret syrup hours before. Prepare a simple syrup, add chopped asian pear, and reduce. Add fresh ginger to syrup and let sit and cool at least 1 hour. Strain mixture. Put some ginger aside.
Combine ingredients, shake with ice, and strain into cocktail glass. Coat rim with a piece of the sugar ginger.

Background

I hesitate to post any recipe that requires cooking a secret sauce hours before, but this one is too good to keep under the hat. This recipe was discovered after a sunday brunch featured omelettes with Korean pears, and the sludge remaining was opportunistically used for a cocktail. I tried to make it without the pear but it doesn't come close.

The syrup needs to be well strained, as the pear pulp can add a grittyness to the drink that kind of sucks. Asian (sometimes called Korean) pears are smoother and work better than western pears. Skipping the pear causes the drink to fall apart, and the lime and the St Germain just don't meld. Strangely, the whole mix produces a grapefruit-like flavor, but adding grapefruit doesn't help it.

When made perfectly, and the intensity of all the ingredients balanced, the huge amount of St Germain becomes much less overpowering than you would think.