A four-times-distilled Williams pear brandy made by monks in Slovenia has been introduced to the UK through specialist drinks company Lovenia.
The clear, crisp spirit, which comes with a fully grown pear inside each bottle, has been produced in the Charterhouse Monastery in Pleterje at the foot of the Gorjanci mountains for the past 60 years.
Explaining how a whole pear can be placed inside a bottle, monastery representative Oliver Muldoon said: “When the fruit reaches hazelnut size, bottles are fixed to the trees so that the delicious pears grow and ripen inside the glass.
“After the pears are picked inside their bottles, the bottles are topped up with four-times-distilled pear brandy.”
It is available to the UK trade through Just Miniatures, with a limited stock of only 4,000 bottles for the UK each year.
Its first listing in the UK is the Fox & Anchor in Charterhouse Street in Smithfield, London, close to the former home of the London Charterhouse Monastery.
The UK launch of the Pleterje Charterhouse Pear Brandy with Williams Pear has been timed to coincide with the bicentenary of the naming of the Williams pear in London by botanist Richard Williams.
Oliver said: “We thought it would be a nice touch for the Williams pear to be brought back to where it all started, but with a monastic twist for Christmas.”
The Pleterje Charterhouse monastery dates back to 1403 and is now one of only 25 remaining Carthusian monasteries in the world.
Click here to see the latest news stories from Barmagazine.co.uk
