Alcohol Infusions 101: Bacon-Infused Bourbon in an Old-Fashioned

It's after noon somewhere, people - time to switch to hard liquor.  I can only post so many curry and stir-fry recipes, and figured you might want to see some of the more interesting drinks I've been trying to make.  So naturally, we have to start with a quintessential man-drink: bacon-infused booze.

Infused spirits seem to be hotter than that stupid song "Call Me Maybe" these days - everybody wants to have their alcohol taste like something else.  Now, whether this is because bars are trying to sell inferior alcohol or because it's a really interesting twist on making mixed drinks I can't say, but I do know this - infusions have been around for a long time, and they make awesome cocktails.  Typically you'll see herbs or fruit infused into an alcohol such as vodka or gin, but one of the more wild ideas that has come up has been to get the incredible healing powers of bacon somehow transferred into liquid form.  And since drinking bacon grease never took off, I'm all for this method instead.

Much like the underground city of Zion from the Matrix, this bacon infusion recipe is not the first, and probably not the last, that I will try.  We attempted this with vodka, and it was a dismal failure.  Then I tried following basic recipes for this bourbon online, and it didn't quite take.  This recipe is the third attempt, taken verbatim from the bar PDT's posting in New York magazine, although I made an adjustment to the bacon infusion process to make it more bacon-y.

Part One: Bacon-Infused Bourbon

• 3 or 4 slices bacon, or enough to render 1 ounce of fat (any extra-smoky variety will do)
• 750 ml of bourbon.  Something mellow - too harsh and no amount of bacon can save it

Always a good start to a recipe.  Or a Thursday.

Heat a pan over medium-low heat.  You're going to cook this bacon slower than you've ever cooked bacon before.  Why?  Because you don't want to burn any part of it, and you're trying to get the fat to drain out.  Now, cut the bacon into 1" squares or so.  Render down the bacon over this low heat, turning often, to convince the bacon to give you its tasty, tasty fat drippings, now in liquid form.  As the bacon cooks down, periodically remove the drippings from the pan until you have what you need.  If you start to see any black bits, you've cooked this too high, and I recommend starting over.  Run the fat through a coffee filter if you really want, but if you did this right you shouldn't need to.  Set the cooked bacon aside for your further pleasure.

Seriously, how can you do wrong when you've got the Gateway Meat in your corner?

The rendered fat should have no black bits floating in it

Now, let the fat cool slightly, and pour the bacon fat over the bourbon, which you've put in a clean mason jar.  Let the bacon fat sit with the bourbon for 24 hours at room temperature, then place in the freezer for up to a week.  The fat will rise to the surface and harden, and you can skim it off with a spoon.

Let the fat sit over the bourbon for a day or so at room temperature before freezing

After freezing for 1-7 days, the fat skims right off

I sampled my creation following this method and found that it didn't have enough bacon-y goodness, so I went and put some cooked, drained bacon in with the bourbon and let it sit for another week.  Then I ran everything through a coffee filter, and the finished product had what I would consider to be an appropriate amount of smoked bacon awesomeness.  In retrospect, I might have let the fat sit with the bourbon longer in the freezer, to see how much of a difference that makes.

Run through a filter at the end (if you used bacon pieces like I added later) to clean up the final product.  Enjoy!

What did I learn in this process?  Many things:

1. Low heat is key here.
2. If you don't cut up the bacon into small bits, too little of it will be in contact with the pan, which means it won't render down properly.
3. Thick-cut bacon may not make much of a difference, but high-quality, smoky bacon will.
4. Be sure to let the fat sit for a while with the bourbon, although room temperature for very long is probably a bad idea.
5. Adding more bacon to the recipe (say, a full pound of bacon) will not help make this any better.

Part Two: A Bacon Bourbon Old-Fashioned

from PDT recipe posted in New York magazine, April 2008

• 2 ounces bacon-infused bourbon
• 1/4 ounce Grade B maple syrup.  Yes, Grade B.  Go find it, it's more powerful than Grade A.
• 2 dashes Angostura or Regan's orange bitters
• Twist of orange

In a mixing glass, stir 2 ounces bacon-infused bourbon, maple syrup, and bitters with ice. Strain into chilled rocks glass filled with ice. Garnish with the orange twist after running around the rim of the glass.

The ingredient list is short, and does not include a cell phone

I need a better picture of this to capture just how awesome it is.  Goes down way too smooth