One of John Green’s most well known quotes comes from his book The Fault in Our Stars. “I fell in love the way you fall asleep: slowly, and then all at once.” Even if you’ve read it or heard it a million times it still gets to you, right? I think it’s one of my favorite quotes about falling in love because it truly resonates with me. It seems that this is exactly how love happens. There’s that moment when we look at a person and think this is someone I could really fall for. One minute we’re standing on a cliff that we’ve taken forever to climb, and then before we even decide to take that next step we’re already falling, with no way of really turning back… I know what you’re all thinking: it’s not time yet for the Friday Musings post! You are correct, but it just so happens that I have an amazing guest blogger who will be doing her own musing this Friday, so I thought I’d get my rambling in a bit early this week.

Now let’s get back to this cocktail! As you all know I’ve been featuring the 11 local Philadelphia distilleries that are participating in Philly Craft Spirits Week since it started last Thursday. Today’s drink is actually a collaboration that I’ve created between 2 of these distilleries, the first being Five Saints in Norristown, and the second, Rowhouse Spirits from Kensington. Five Saints produces a beautiful vodka that is incredibly clean and smooth; I knew that I wanted it to be the main spirit in my cocktail. Rowhouse makes a gorgeous liqueur called Bare Trap that’s distilled from 19 herbs and spices (with anise as its most forward flavor) that I thought would be the perfect accompaniment to the vodka. Adding on from there, I chose Spicy Pear Cider, Orgeat, and fig jam as the sweet components, lemon juice to keep things sour, and DRAM’s “Hair of the dog” bitters with fennel, citrus, and ginger to help balance things out. There was a lot going on here, and I have to admit that it took a few tries to get this cocktail exactly where I wanted it to be. Once I had it there, I knew it. I took my second sip and that’s when I thought of John Green. This was a cocktail I could really fall for…

Falling in Love Slowly…

1 1/2 oz Five Saints Vodka
1/2 oz Rowhouse Spirits Bear Trap liqueur
3/4 oz R.W Knudsen Spicy Pear Cider
1/2 oz lemon juice
3/4 oz Small Hands Orgeat
1 dash DRAM Apothecary “Hair of the dog” bitters
1 tsp fig jam
1 thick fig slice for garnishing

Place all the ingredients in the bottom half of a shaker tin and then add your 1 large cube and 2 small. Shake for 15—20 seconds or until cold. If you don’t have any large format cubes on hand, then fill the shaker 2/3 full with regular ice. Double strain using a Hawthorne strainer and a mesh strainer into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a skewered fig slice. Enjoy!