Alex Greene / Fair Oaks, CA

Seasonal Ap-“Pear”-ance

California bartender and Chilled 100 Ambassador Alex Greene was born the day after Christmas and loves making drinks with fall and winter flavors. Pear in particular, he says, goes well with holiday spices. “Working with fall flavors is my favorite because of the depth of flavor you can achieve,” says Alex, a bartender at Shangri-la in Fair Oaks, California.

Pears are harvested in the fall and associated with the holidays because of their availability. They’re also considered festive because a partridge in a pear tree is the first gift in the “Twelve Days of Christmas” song. In December, National Pear Month celebrates the fruit’s flavor and versatility. The Perfect Purée Pear has fine, translucent white pulp, a delicate floral aroma, and a mild, subtly sweet flavor.

Despite its mild flavor, pear puree stands up well to the bold flavors of allspice and nutmeg.

Alex developed the holiday cocktail La Pera for cool winter nights in Fair Oaks. Riffing on a winter margarita, he added depth and complexity to reposado tequila with house-made sage agave syrup, St. Elizabeth’s Allspice Dram, and Angostura Bitters. He added pear puree to the sage agave syrup to freshen the drink’s profile. “I wanted to do something with fresh ingredients instead of a spiced pear liqueur then add a unique ingredient like allspice dram,” he says.

Alex learned from his bar manager why high-quality pear puree is important. Pears are hard to peel and their skin contains lectin that can coagulate in cocktails. “Flavors like pear are so much easier to use in a puree that’s already made especially when labor costs are involved,” Alex says.

The Future is Fermentation

Not that naturally occurring components are unwelcome. Alex says The Perfect Purée is so fresh he’s seen one of its flavors, White Peach, ferment in a bottle. “Which is really unique, that’s how you know it’s a high-quality product if it still has some natural yeast in there,” he says.

While fermentation changes the flavor of a puree a little bit, he doesn’t mind. It sparks his imagination. “Something I would love to get into more is fermentation in cocktails,” he says. “It’s great to know I could use The Perfect Purée in some of those fermented cocktail recipes.”

Up-and-Coming Collaborator

Shangri-la serves upscale farm-to-fork comfort food in a resort-like setting. Alex appreciates its collaborative approach to bartending. “Every bartender contributes a drink to the menu, which is really nice because in some places bartenders don’t have creative influence,” he says. “You can always become a bartender where you’re just like a line cook but I got into the career path because I like creating.”

Alex worked in the brewing industry in Orange County, where he grew up. Following pandemic shutdowns, he and his girlfriend moved near her family in Greater Sacramento. Alex got a job at Moonraker Brewing Company in Auburn and fell in love with the Northern California farm-to-fork culture (or in his case, farm-to-bar). “At that point, I had done almost everything in the beer industry except brewing. I eventually started doing beer sales when I came to the conclusion that I wanted to find a job where I could be more creative and really express myself. That’s when I decided to part ways with the beer industry and start my craft cocktail career,” Alex says.

He found a job bartending at a high-end 55-plus community where the bar manager was using techniques in craft cocktails that Alex (who’s decades younger) wouldn’t have imagined for the 55-plus crowd. “He taught me a lot and because of him I was able to move on to more fast-paced cocktail bars,” Alex says.

His ambition led Alex to enter — and win — the Triple-Threat Throwdown Cocktail Competition at Sacramento Cocktail Week. From there, he applied to become a Chilled 100 Ambassador. “Now, after only a year and a half of bartending, I’ve won a competition and joined the Chilled 100. I look forward to one day managing a bar and ultimately owning one,” Alex says.