Bacon Bourbon

[Kyle Hyde]

I just read an article about a bacon bourbon old-fashioned. Bacon-infused bourbon, maple syrup (instead of sugar), and a dash of bitters. It sounds interesting, as I love bourbon and bacon. It seems really easy to make bacon-infused bourbon; 1oz of bacon fat straight from the freezer (so it's solid) placed in 750ml of bourbon for 4 hours, back in the freezer until fat solidifies back into a ball, then strained out.

Anyone ever try this? I'm going to try it tomorrow. Think I'll use a cheap bottle of bourbon first.

 

[VR6ofpain]

Damn. Sounds too hardcore, but I would commend you if you did it and reported back!

 

[Kyle Hyde]

I will. I wonder if the smokiness will be anything like my true love...laphroig.

 

[Singapura]

I wonder how your true love Laphroaig feels if you spell her name wrong.

 

[jumpo64]

I love bourbon. I also love bacon. This seems like a win-win to me.

 

[bigred90gt]

I love bourbon, and I love bacon, but I'm not sure I would love bacon flavored bourbon. Much like I love hamburgers, and I love ice cream, but I'm not putting a scoop on my burger.

 

[BigRich]

I love bourbon, and I love bacon, but I'm not sure I would love bacon flavored bourbon. Much like I love hamburgers, and I love ice cream, but I'm not putting a scoop on my burger.

My thoughts exactly.

 

[JPM]

Bourbon and Bacon, what could be better? Love to hear what you think if you try it.

 

[danek]

There have been quite a few around here who have been doing this for probably over a year; another term for it is 'fat-washing'. Personally, while I find it interesting, I don't particularly like my cocktail tasting like breakfast.

I have had fig infused bourbon and find that much more attractive. The fruity-ness of the fig compliments the bourbon well and makes for a very nice contrast when mixed with lemon in a kind of 'fig-whiskey sour'.

 

[airplanedoc]

You try and tell us all about it. I would hate to waste a good bottle of Burbon.

I was thinking burbon bacon sounded good too

 

[cthip]

tried it. used jim beam black because it was cheap (but drinkable) and i had a half-bottle laying around leftover from other projects.

i put the fat in while still room temperature, and i used about 2 oz for a half-bottle of bourbon. let sit four hours, froze, then strained twice--once through a mesh sieve and then again through a coffee filter (the aeropress works great for this kind of filtering--no mess!)

the verdict--i liked it. drank it neat and in the maple syrup old-fashioned. definitely an improvement over the original bourbon. however, i didn't get enough bacon flavor. considering i used double the amount of bacon fat and half the amount of bourbon, i essentially quadrupled the bacon:bourbon ratio and it still was only faintly bacon scented. i did use a quality bacon that is dry-cured and smoked at my local butcher, so there should have been plenty of smoky flavor in the fat. my guess is that it needs a lot more time than four hours, and maybe a very gentle shake/stir occasionally to maximize the flavor extraction.

will definitely try it again the next time i have cheap bourbon around.

 

[RichGem]

I just read an article about a bacon bourbon old-fashioned. Bacon-infused bourbon, maple syrup (instead of sugar), and a dash of bitters. It sounds interesting, as I love bourbon and bacon. It seems really easy to make bacon-infused bourbon; 1oz of bacon fat straight from the freezer (so it's solid) placed in 750ml of bourbon for 4 hours, back in the freezer until fat solidifies back into a ball, then strained out.

Anyone ever try this? I'm going to try it tomorrow. Think I'll use a cheap bottle of bourbon first.

That sounds fantastic, especially if you got a nice smokey bacon.

 

[Lavaine]

Being Canadian, I'm not a Bourbon expert, but I think the Bacon Bourbon needs to sit longer, possibly with more bacon fat. The recipe I have for bacon vodka is for the fat from 1lb of rendered bacon (I'm not sure how much fat 1lb makes), infused in the vodka for 24 hours before being filtered out. Other recipes call for the bacon itself to infuse in the vodka for 3 weeks.
I'm going to make the bacon vodka and take it on a ski trip (that's on snow for anyone south of the Mason/Dixon line ) and make BLT Caesars. Caesars are pretty much uniquely Canadian, similar to a Bloody Mary, but with Clamato juice.

 

[timmy]

Being Canadian, I'm not a Bourbon expert, but I think the Bacon Bourbon needs to sit longer, possibly with more bacon fat. The recipe I have for bacon vodka is for the fat from 1lb of rendered bacon (I'm not sure how much fat 1lb makes), infused in the vodka for 24 hours before being filtered out. Other recipes call for the bacon itself to infuse in the vodka for 3 weeks.
I'm going to make the bacon vodka and take it on a ski trip (that's on snow for anyone south of the Mason/Dixon line ) and make BLT Caesars. Caesars are pretty much uniquely Canadian, similar to a Bloody Mary, but with Clamato juice.

Now Bacon vodka and a BLT Caesar/bloody mary sound good right now.

 

[HopHead]

I had a sample of bacon whiskey at a bar in birmingham. After that I recreated it myself. Although I didn't get the same level of balance, they end result was pretty tasty.

750 ml makers mark
6lbs thick cut bacon
1tbs honey

Follow the same steps as you originally detailed and it came out great.

 

[blary54]

I don't think you could create a more manly drink. Alcohol infused with meat!

Id try it.

 

[SUOrangeGuy]

I saw bacon vodka for a bloody mary but this is too much of a stretch.