2 asian pears, sliced thin

2 vanilla beans, split

2-3 cinnamon sticks

4-6 oz ginger, sliced thin

2 bottles bourbon (i used jim beam)

maceration time: 3 weeks

while i am happy enough about how this one came out, i can’t help but wish i’d used stronger-flavored pears, like bartlett or bosc.  the asian pear has a nice, subtle flavor, but that’s exactly the problem: it’s too subtle.  as a result, the infusion took longer, and the result is a little thinner than i was hoping for.  i’m still happy enough with it, and expect to sell it out this weekend, thanks to the sweet lucrezia, and the pear does take the edge off the bourbon, which is what i was aiming for.  but next time (and for those of you playing along at home), i will use a more robustly flavored pear.