Mathilde makes 100% natural, 100% hand picked fruit liqueurs from their French family recipes that are over 100 years old. The Pear liqueur is 18% abv / 36 proof and is a very light yellow, gold in color. The aroma is that of pears that are at the peak of ripeness as if they had been sitting on your counter all week slowly becoming more and more aromatic. This is a light bodied liqueur that is on the pleasurably sweet end of the spectrum, and is crammed full of the essence of ripe pears. I'm drinking it chilled from a snifter and it's like biting into an icy pear so ripe and honeyed that the pear just disintegrates and bursts in your mouth with a splash of sweet nectar. As sometimes happens when I smell and taste a fine spirit I was taken back to 15 years ago. It was the middle of the winter with several feet of snow on the ground and I was taking a course on wilderness survival and Native American spirituality out near the Pine Barrens of New Jersey. We were spending the week tramping around all day in the snow talking, and all night sleeping wrapped up like mummies in our bags in an old, unheated hay filled barn. It was actually quite comfortable if you don't mind temps of 14° F at night. Our food wasn't bad, but it was very boring for a gourmet like me, consisting of all kinds of healthy stuff like roots and hay, uh... I mean kohlrabi and granola. I woke up early one morning just before dawn and was wandering around in the gray tinted dark. I saw a crate in back of the barn that was partially covered in hay and obviously forgotten. I brushed it clear and saw that it was packed full of local pears. I took a bite of one and was overwhelmed with how sweet, cold, and juicy it was, the best pear I had ever tasted. I quickly stuffed my parka full of a half dozen of these nuggets of gustatory gold and hid the crate back under the hay. I then walked out into the rosy dawn and slurped up all those pears, enjoying them intensely, juice dripping down my chin, as I watched the sun rise and the day begin. For the rest of the cold and wintry week I would sneak to that crate and carefully fill my pockets full of those pears and then wander away to watch nature and the elements dance with each other.
I snapped back to the present as I finished the glass of Mathilde Poire in tiny sips, desperately licking the glass clean before finally putting it down. Mathilde is readily available at many liquor stores and a bargain at around $10-$12 for a 375 Ml bottle.

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12-05-2006 @9:04AM Derrick said... Was that a Tom Brown survival course?
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Yes, one of my old careers. --JMF--
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12-05-2006 @10:39AM bdw said... I love pears, and tried some of this a couple of years ago. It was a little too girly for my taste, so I gave it to my wife who took it to her sister's shower, where it was reportedly a major hit. Very delicate, but not at all bad. I'll stick to poire william, or my own homemade infusion of pears in vodka.
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12-04-2006 @10:08PM p said... As it happens, I am drinking a kir a la peche made with the Peche Mathilde and sparkling wine. I've been wanting to try the Poire, addicted as I am to champagne aperitifs. I've had the strawberry one and it was just hideous. Tasted like soda-fountain syrup.
I cannot recommend the peach highly enough. Have a splash of it in icy-cold sparkling wine. Heaven in a flute.
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I agree about the peche, it is my favorite Mathilde liqueur as well.
--JMF--
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12-04-2006 @11:52PM p said... I was actually wondering this evening how one can tell the difference -- among unopened bottles -- between the sweet liqueur Peche, or Framboise, or Poire, and the fruit brandy/eau de vie of the same name. They're quite different.
I'm totally getting the Poire tomorrow, since I was thinking about it today and then this nice post appeared.
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As I think you surmised from my feature, basically looking at the alcohol content will tell you whether it is a low alcohol liqueur or a high alcohol fruit brandy. Look for a full feature on cognac, brandy, and fruit brandy in the very near future.
--JMF--
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12-05-2006 @7:28AM Wenhaston Blackheath said... Er... you do know that 'gourmand' means 'glutton'?
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gourmand
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It has several definitions, I prefer the one meaning a connoisseur of fine foods... but I will take note of your comment and may change my wording. Thanks --JMF--
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12-05-2006 @6:46PM p said... oh, well, yeah yeah yeah there's the LABEL to tell you the alc %. I was thinking about an experience I had recently ordering a kir a la framboise. It was made with the eau de vie and not the liqueur and I accidentally wound up hammered.
Inquiring minds want to know whether Mathilde's cognac with orange is worth a try.
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I have been meaning to try it for awhile but until I get a sugar momma to start buying me tasty libations, I'm going to fall way behind in my tasting duties.
--JMF--
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