La Belle Fleur et Le Verdant
La Belle Fleur (the beautiful flower), is a pear infused vodka recipe that Katrina is following today. She is still deciding on her own name for it, but knows she wants it to be French. She is teaching herself French from an application on her phone.
Trois de poire (three pears) is the traditional name of this drink.
But what if she were to name it ‘trios de poire’ because there are three different pear varieties in it.
Or fleur de poire is elegant…
ménage à trois?
Someone at the bar declares, “I like that one!”
Fruit infused drinks are a new thing at the lobby lounge bar. Recently Katrina made Rock & Rye, that’s bourbon infused with sugar candy, bitters, St. Germaine Elder flower and maraschino cherries. My goodness.
She is so excited about the three-pear flower beauty infusion she tosses the bottle of vodka from one hand to the other as if juggling.
Katrina has been steeped in the art of bartending for six years and has a talent for knowing “within 30 seconds” what drink would match a customer’s personality.
What about me, Katrina? “I would guess you would be interested in a craft cocktail vintage style, or a French 75. You could be easily coerced into something with fruit forward or champagne. Maybe champagne cocktail, but it depends on the scenario. On a hot day after you’ve been walking around I think you would be more apt to The Verdant, a gin drink of a bright green color that contains chartreuse and some other secret ingredient.
Katrina reads aloud from her potions book.
What is Chartreuse? Some green liqueur that only Carthusian monks in France can brew. It contains 130 different herbs and flowers from a secret recipe. The monks have been making Chartreuse since 1737. Katrina lets me sniff the bottle when I ask.
It took Katrina a long time to figure out the name for the Verdant, a drink whose secret ingredient (well, formerly secret) is fresh celery juice.
Other names she considered for it:
Flora’s elixer
Persephone
Garden Party
Verdant Valley
She has even more names that she considered listed on her phone.
Thank you, Katrina for providing a screen shot of your telephone’s list.
Also listed on her phone are all the songs she wants to sing at a karaoke night so that she will be prepared when she next finds herself in a karaoke situation. Included on her list are “I Would Walk 500 Miles,” and “Light My Candle.” She does not like it when people sing “Don’t Stop Believing.”
