This recipe is based on the Hotel Nacional Special, a delicious cocktail that combines rum, pineapple syrup, lime juice, apricot liqueur, and angostura bitters. It's a very summery seeming drink. I used the same proportions, but took it in an autumnal direction with the slightly smokey flavor of tequila, complemented by pears and ginger. I took inspiration for the pear-ginger syrup from the sharbat (middle-eastern fruit syrup) recipes found in Diana Henry's Salt Sugar Smoke. The end result is a cocktail that is perfect for sweater weather.

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