Doc Manhattan
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- May 26, 2008
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This week, in one of the more Manly acts in my life, I made Bacon-Infused Bourbon.
The actual process is called fat-washing alcohol: you emulsify a liquified fat into strong spirits (~1:20), and as the fat congeals, it fines the liquor. You could do it with an unflavored fat, but what the hell fun is that? If the fat has delicious flavors/aromatics, some of those infuse into the alcohol. Strain out through a coffee filter and you're in business.
What I got back was a Mason jar full of Bacon Bourbon--you can definitely smell and slightly taste just-burnt bacon, especially in the aftertaste.
(Pics would be pointless--the outcome looks exactly like bourbon, and the work-in-progress looks like, you guessed it, bourbon with lard floating in it.)
My big mistake was trying to mix a sweet cocktail with it. Coffee and bacon are winners at breakfast, but Kahlua and 100-proof Bacon are an abomination together. One thing this stuff doesn't need is more sweetness. I think this is destined for neat drinking.
I am undeterred by one disastrous cocktail, though. Next to try: butter into rum or scotch (tastes that already pair well), and bacon into vodka, for a BLT Bloddy Mary.
I know there are several homebrewers on the BoB... anyone do any hard liquor engineering?
The actual process is called fat-washing alcohol: you emulsify a liquified fat into strong spirits (~1:20), and as the fat congeals, it fines the liquor. You could do it with an unflavored fat, but what the hell fun is that? If the fat has delicious flavors/aromatics, some of those infuse into the alcohol. Strain out through a coffee filter and you're in business.
What I got back was a Mason jar full of Bacon Bourbon--you can definitely smell and slightly taste just-burnt bacon, especially in the aftertaste.
(Pics would be pointless--the outcome looks exactly like bourbon, and the work-in-progress looks like, you guessed it, bourbon with lard floating in it.)
My big mistake was trying to mix a sweet cocktail with it. Coffee and bacon are winners at breakfast, but Kahlua and 100-proof Bacon are an abomination together. One thing this stuff doesn't need is more sweetness. I think this is destined for neat drinking.
I am undeterred by one disastrous cocktail, though. Next to try: butter into rum or scotch (tastes that already pair well), and bacon into vodka, for a BLT Bloddy Mary.
I know there are several homebrewers on the BoB... anyone do any hard liquor engineering?
