To Autumn - A Pear & Apple Gin Cocktail

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,

  Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun; 

Conspiring with him how to load and bless 

  With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run; 

To bend with apples the moss'd cottage-trees, 

  And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core; 

    To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells 

  With a sweet kernel; to set budding more, 

And still more, later flowers for the bees, 

Until they think warm days will never cease, 

  For summer has o'er-brimm'd their clammy cells.

– "To Autumn" by John Keats

I love autumn, and the poem excerpt above is one of the most beautiful odes to the season I have ever read. On the east coast in the States, you would be galavanting around orchards, picking apples and hopping on hay rides right about now. 

Alas, we are in Hong Kong. But autumn still means phenomenal (read: dry) weather and crisp air. I've always loved a fresh-squeezed apple and pear juice to cleanse my system. When adding a few drops of lemon to the mix, the drink suddenly called for gin. And so I answered. 

Now, I warn that this cocktail may not be one for the guests. Despite my adding copious amounts of lemon juice right after juicing, the colour still ultimately changes from a fresh-looking (albeit, halloween-ish) green to a murky, sick brown. So goes oxidation. If you can forgive the cosmetic issues, this is such a refreshing drink that masquerades as a lean green cleansing machine. You can find the recipe after the jump!

INGREDIENTS

• 2.5 ounces gin (I use Tanqueray for this- it seems to work best with the citrus)
• 2 ripe pears 
• 1 green apple 
• 2-3 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon honey
• Ice

DIRECTIONS

1. Place the lemon juice in the glass that catches from you juicer
2. Run the pears and apple through the juicer
3. Shake juices with honey, gin, and ice
4. Strain into martini glasses

Sit back and enjoy!