Wed 9/21 – 4-9 PM $5 sangria special! A very special white sangria with a hint of Fall harvest: sauvignon blanc, brandy, ginger brandy, cucumber, basil, Meyer lemons, fresh squeezed lime-lemon juice and sweetened with honey. Limited stock.
Also Wed 9/21 – 7-9 PM Songwriters’ Sessions returns so join us for an evening of original songs in the natural acoustics and listening room atmosphere of our beautiful and historic bar. Hosting special songwriters: KETURAH ALLGOOD, TODD HOKE, JOHN LONGBOTTOM and CHARLIE WILKINSON.
Keturah Allgood is a Brevard native and purveyor of “soulful Americana.” She has carved out a music career both as a solo artist and with other groups of artists in the Brevard area. Todd Hoke is a native Texan who has been part of the NC music scene for a good while. He is well known throughout the Southeast Regional Folk Alliance(SERFA)and by Hendersonville music lovers for his dry wit and eye for detail in his songwriting. John Longbottom says, “I am constantly amazed by what can be created with only eight notes and twenty-six letters.” Over the years, Charlie Wilkinson has come to realize that his approach to music is no different than his approach to everything else: “But wait. I can explain.”
With hosts Mare Carmody, John Longbottom, and Charlie Wilkinson
Thurs 9/22 – 4-9 PM Our special Pear cocktails specials and 1/2 price flight: Pears are one of the world’s oldest cultivated and beloved fruits. In 5,000 B.C., Feng Li, a Chinese diplomat, abandoned his responsibilities when he became consumed by grafting peaches, almonds, persimmons, pears and apples as a commercial venture. (Does this remind you of Diocletian and his cabbages?) In The Odyssey, the Greek poet laureate Homer praises pears as a “gift of the gods.” Pomona, goddess of fruit, was a cherished member of the Roman Pantheon and Roman farmers documented extensive pear growing and grafting techniques.
Evidence exists of its use as a food since prehistoric times. Many traces have been found in prehistoric pile dwellinga around Lake Zurich. Jean Baptiste de La Quintinie, lawyer and botanist who was responsible for the gardens at Versailles, wrote, “It must be confessed that, among all fruits in this place, nature does not show anything so beautiful nor so noble as this pear. It is pear that makes the greatest honor on the tables…”
Evident in the works of Renaissance Masters, pears have long been an elegant still-life muse for artists. And in popular culture, the pear tree was immortalized alongside a partridge in the 18th-century Christmas carol, The Twelve Days of Christmas.
The Bartlett Pear (eau de vie de poire) is the prized pear used in brandy and perry (pear cider). A blight wiped out most of the Bartlett pear production in the Southeast and it is only in recent years that it has again been reintroduced into Western North Carolina. Fortunately, the pear trees brought west to Oregon and Washington by pioneers in the 1800’s thrived in the unique agricultural conditions found in the Pacific Northwest. Today’s Northwest pear varieties are the same or similar to those first cultivated in France and Belgium where they were prized for their delicate flavor, and buttery texture and it is the Oregon pear brandy that we use in our drinks today.
Pear cocktails include: Daphne Martini, Pear brandy, gin, curacao, dry vermouth, orange bitters; Ginger Pear Mule – Copper & Kings brandy, pear nectar, lemon juice, ginger-honey syrup, ginger ale; Peartini – Pear brandy, amaretto, spiced syrup, lemon juice; Brandy Bar’s Pear Martini – Pear brandy, Cointreau, lemon juice; Spiced Pear Caipirini – Pisco, pear nectar, fresh ginger, lemon juice; New Armagnacs/Calvados flight ½ price
