Pear Martini

This Pear Martini is an elegant fall cocktail that's absolutely delicious! Cinnamon syrup and pear vodka complement each other perfectly, and dry vermouth rounds out the flavors in this tasty drink. A fresh pear garnish is the perfect finishing touch.

This drink is perfect for pear season in the fall. It would be great for an autumn cocktail party, a harvest festival or even a fall wedding! It's also easy to mix this one up for a cozy afternoon at home.

Looking for more fall-themed drinks? Check out this Apple Cinnamon Bourbon cocktail with fresh apple cider. For an easy fall drink with Prosecco, try out a delicious Apple Cider Mimosa!

Ingredients

Here are the ingredients you'll need to mix up this tasty cocktail.

• Pear vodka - any pear flavored vodka works great. I used Grey Goose La Poire - Pear Vodka.
• Dry vermouth - any brand of dry vermouth works well here.
• Cinnamon syrup - I used homemade cinnamon syrup, but store bought works great too. This Maison Routin 1883 Cinnamon Syrup is a good quality option.
• Cardamom bitters - cardamom is such a good flavor to complement both the cinnamon and pear flavors! I used The Bitter Housewife cardamom bitters.
• Fresh pear - for garnish.

Substitutions

Here are some substitutions you can make for this drink.

• Pear vodka - if you don't have pear vodka, you can always infuse your own vodka with fresh pears. Just cut up a whole pear, removing the stem and seeds, and add the chunks to a glass container. Then, pour vodka into the container, filling it enough to cover all of the pear pieces. After a few days, strain and bottle the resulting vodka. It might end up being a little cloudy, but will taste great!
• Dry vermouth - I don't recommend substituting in sweet vermouth for this particular drink. It would overpower the delicate pear flavor. Instead, if you need a substitute, try out Lillet Blanc, or a dry white wine.
• Cinnamon syrup - you can use maple syrup or a plain simple syrup if you want to take out the cinnamon flavor.
• Cardamom bitters - lemon, ginger, or orange bitters would all work fine in this drink. You can omit the bitters if you like your cocktail on the sweet side.

Variations

If you want to change things up, here are some variations:

• Pear Gin Martini - instead of infusing vodka with pears, as in the Substitutions section above, try infusing gin instead. It will add some more herbal notes and make the drink more complex.
• Pear Almond Martini - instead of the cinnamon syrup, try using orgeat, which is an almond flavored syrup. Along with the orgeat, walnut bitters would work great.
• Non-alcoholic Pear Martini - for a virgin version of this drink, try using pear juice instead of the flavored vodka. To add a little oomph, use a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar too.

Equipment

To make this drink, you'll need a jigger or measuring cup, along with a heavy-bottomed mixing glass, a long bar spoon and a strainer. You'll also need a stemmed cocktail glass for serving. (I used these beautiful Charles Butterworth martini glasses.)

To make the garnish, you'll just need a cutting board and knife.

If you're in need of some bar tools, this 10-piece stirred cocktail set from A Bar Above has everything you need to make stirred drinks like this martini! It makes a great gift for anyone who loves martinis, Manhattans and other stirred drinks.

Instructions

Start off by making your garnish. Cut your pear towards the middle, so that you'll be able to see a pear shape in your slice. If you want the stem to stay attached to the slice, make your cut just to one side of it, and then the other side of the stem.

Cut a small notch into the bottom of the pear where you want it to attach to the rim of the glass.

Start making your drink by adding the cinnamon syrup to your mixing glass. Then, add in the dry vermouth.

Add in the pear vodka and the cardamom bitters to the mixing glass.

Fill the mixing glass with ice and give it a stir with a long bar spoon. Stir for about 30 seconds, and then strain the drink into your serving glass.

Attach your pear to the rim of the glass where you cut the notch. Push it down to make sure it's secure before serving.

Hint: you can chill your serving glass before straining in the drink. This will help the drink stay cold a little bit longer. Just stick it in the freezer for 15 minutes, or in the fridge for 30 to 45 minutes, before serving. Or, you can just add some cold water with ice in it to your serving glass while you make the drink, and just dump it out before pouring in the cocktail.

Frequently Asked Questions

Top tip

This is a wonderful drink for batching since there is no fruit juice involved. You can make a big batch days ahead of time, keep it in in the fridge in a pitcher and just pour it as you need it! All you need to do is mix everything together, along with ½ ounce of water per cocktail so you don't have to stir it with ice.

If you want a quicker garnish to use in bulk, you can use dehydrated pears as garnishes. It's easy and will give the drink a rustic look. You can dehydrate your own pears by slicing and drying them in the oven, or purchase them already dehydrated (either chewy in texture like these dehydrated pears on Amazon, or crisper in texture like these dehydrated pears on Etsy). You can clip them on to the side of the glass, cut out a notch to balance them, or just stick a pear inside each glass.