Oakohol Lab: Bacon Bourbon

I hate whiskey.

While I can chug Jameson as a part of an Irish Car Bomb all day and thoroughly enjoy a Jack Daniels’ barbecue glaze, you wouldn’t catch me ordering a Long Island Iced Tea, a whiskey sour, or bourbon on the rocks. I never acquired the taste for whiskey and still struggle to develop the palate for it.

So when I came across an article in Togue Magazine about bacon-infused bourbon, I knew I found just the ticket.

Mixologist David Lee got into more details in the article about fat washing. But it comes down to simple few steps and voila! All the tasty smoky goodness without the grease!

My first experiment I did with cheap grocery store brand bacon and Jim Beam I had on hand. I tasted the result. Yep. Still tasted like whiskey to me...gag...gag...

Wait, was that a hint of bacon I got at the end? Not willing to swig more of this, I got my friend @DavidMoyle, a bourbon guy, to be my lab rat.

He said he can definitely taste the bacon. And he thought it might’ve just improved the Jim Beam, even. Paulette at Girl + Fire did the same experiment with scotch after I’ve told her about mine and she said the same.

Now we are ready for the large scale upscale production: Maker’s Mark and apple smoked bacon for David’s birthday present.



This was a large scale operation. 1 lb. of fatty apple smoked bacon (about half a cup of grease) to about 1 liter of the 1.75 liter bottle of Maker’s Mark. Awesome gift for your boozing friends especially when you can get some cool bottles from Cost Plus World Market.

I kept tasting and tasting and I thought the bacon essence was too little. Then again, I kept cringing at the taste of whiskey that I couldn't taste anything else. David and Cara (@remarx) said it was just perfect.

I brought the bottle to the bar we were meeting for David's bash. We were caught sneaking our tasting sips out of the paper bag by our waiter. However, after explaining the nature of the bourbon, instead of making David walk the bottle back to his car, the waiter asked his manager who happened to be a bourbon lover if it was okay.

He brought out classes for us to properly tasted it and that was that. We, of course, poured him, his manager AND the bartender a taster each too. LOL. They love bourbon at that bar and apparently I’ve just given them some ideas!

So now. The recipe you can’t muck up for just the regular sized 750 ml. bottle of Maker's Mark.

Bacon Bourbon

• 4-6 slices of apple smoked bacon. The fattier the better because we want the grease.
• One 750 ml. bottle of Maker’s Mark
• A wide mouth glass or ceramic container e.g. a pitcher, a jar
  
• Optional: paper coffee filter or cheese cloth.

First, fry your bacon: put your bacon on cold pan and cook until crispy or you can cook them in a baking sheet in the oven. Pour the hot fat into the wide mouth container. Let cool slightly. Save some of those bacon to snack on or to garnish your bacon bourbon cocktail later.



Pour in your bottle Maker’s Mark. Stir. Put on a lid or cover with plastic wrap. Sit out in room temperature for 6-8 hours.

Put the jar in the freezer for 30 minutes or fridge overnight. The fat will solidify into a lid. Remove the fat.



For extra measure to make sure there’s no grease or bacon particles left floating in your bourbon, pour the bacon bourbon through cheese cloth or coffee filter.

Re-bottle. Re-label. Enjoy!



Oh, and just a precaution in case the bacon greasy goodness might go rancid on you, I keep my batch in the fridge.

Now, the big question is this: Did I like drinking my own creation? Unfortunately, the bacon just isn’t enough incentive for me to like the taste of whiskey.

But hey, I get to eat the all the cooked bacon afterward. I’m not complaining!

DIY Limoncello

I was completely fine with the manufactured limoncello, the Italian lemon liquer, that are now easily available at BevMo...until Justin and Olaina came back from Rome with a small bottle of the real stuff.

I have been in search for a palatable manufactured one since then. And I have not found one that even comes close to the little bottle Italy-shaped bottle from Rome.

While I researched for those, I found that limoncello could be made at home, and found a recipe.

• One bottle (750 ml) Everclear 151 proof.
• One bottle (750 ml) vodka (I would recommend a decent bottle, like Smirnoff, but nothing too extravagant)
• Peels from 20-25 lemons--organic and/or wax-free preferred.
• Simple syrup made with 4 cups sugar and 4 cups of water.

ETA - Grappa-based Limoncello: 

Recently, I've been making limoncello with a bottle of Grappa Piave (about $27 for one liter--best value!), 12-15 lemons, and simple syrup made with 2 cups each of water and sugar. The method is exactly the same. More flavorful, a little smoother, but still pack a good punch.

Hell, yes! I made the Strawberry-infused sake already. This should be cake walk.

You soak pith-free peels of 20-25 lemons, preferably organic and/or wax-free, in a bottle of Everclear and a bottle of regular Smirnoff vodka for 2-4 weeks in a cool, dark place. Drain and add simple syrup. Stick it in the fridge for another week. And ecco! There's your limoncello.

(No wax-free lemon? Let's wash off the wax! Bring a pot of water to boil. Drop the lemons in a few at a time and slosh them around for 15 seconds. Take them out and risnse well.)

Yes, dear. I did say Everclear. The 151-proof one aka the only kind legally available in California.



Everclear to get the flavors out. Good vodka to round out the edges. I found some other recipes that use 2 90-proof Smirnoff instead. But I think Everclear probably does a better job of flavor extraction.

But then, there were a few hurdles.

The first hurdle, finding organic, wax-free lemons. I'm sure I probably could pick up those at Whole Foods or something, but I'd prefer someone's backyard lemons. So I bartered with my coworker Rob: a bottle of limoncello for 20+ lemons.

The second hurdle, peeling them lemons. Okay. Call me paranoid. From what I read up, a wee little bit of white pith could turn the batch bitter. So, I painstakingly, may be even unnecessarily, scrape each and single piece of lemon peel I carved off the lemons. It took at least 2 hours.

I set up a little station in front of the TV with a bag of lemon, a glass jar, a garbage bowl, a peeler, and a small paring knife and put in a DVD. And to town I went on the lemons.

The rest is gravy.



You just have to plan it out, you know. Obviously, you can make it today and have the stuff tomorrow. My first batch was done in the fall. The second batch is now wrapping up in the fridge, waiting to be bottled for Christmas.

I found Cost Plus to have all sorts of bottles. I also bought a few little jars to make sample shots for Limoncello virgins. Just tell your friends to KEEP THE BOTTLES for refill later. ;-)

You can use all sorts of other bottles for this too. Paul gave me an empty scotch bottle with a cork-top which is totally awesome. And here I am, downing a New Zealand sparkling mineral water for the bottle for Shane.

The effort and patience to make this was definitely huge. But trust me. It's soooo worth it! It tastes fabulous and make fantastic gifts.

Strawberry Sake

Really, summer in a glass.

I read this article in the LA Times many years ago, and since then had made this lovely Strawberry-infused Sake so many times, it's become a part of my repertoire.



Put it simply, halve 2 pints (baskets) of fresh strawberries (quarter if they're huge). Put it in a sun tea jar. Pour a bottle of cheap regular (junmai) sake over it. Let it sit in a cool dark place--not the fridge!--for 3 days.



And voila! On the 4th day, you put the whole jar in the fridge or you can strain out the fruit. Using a sun tea jar has the advantage of the spout--no straining needed to pour!

You might find that the smell and taste of it on the 3rd day may be a little bit on the riper side of the strawberries. Fear not, the taste DOES mellow out once it is chilled.

Oh and it keeps for about a week. After that, it will start to taste a little funny...



Well, I forgot to take a picture of the jar before I extract the sake to take to a friend's barbecue. Essentially, the color and juices have come out of the berries and into the sake. The fruit themselves looked like a white sock that has been in a red load of laundry.

You know how cheap sake has that bite to it? Well, the berries took in all of that too. A friend of ours decided once to just have the sake soaked berries for dessert. She liked the bitter, you see. Boy, did she get wasted faster than any of us actually drinking the sake!

Bottling tip: I have found that Voss premium spring water glass bottle to work beautifully for my transport. As I have found out, you can buy the plastic version of these at retail store in the big liter bottle and the little one. Some of the bars to sell the small bottle ones too. So...if you happen to buy those fancy schmancy water, keep the bottle.

I used to buy small bottles and corks from the beer brewing supplier store, slap on my own label and gave them to friends. But if I can find small Voss bottles out there, I don't have to trek to the special store for bottles now. However, I think I'll be paying more for the fancy water. Heh.