The first time I heard of bacon infused whisk(e)y, I tried it with a friend and we made a terrible mess of various different bourbons and scotches. It was a damn shame. When we found that we had simply used far, far too much bacon fat, we were a bit relieved.

Since then I’ve followed the recipe used in the Benton’s old fashioned video, but generally with Knob Creek, and always with quality bacon. The best combination I’ve found so far was from D’artagnan wild boar bacon. I found it added smoke and mellowness to the sweetness of the bourbon, and darnit, if that old fashioned isn’t something special.

THE QUARANTINI!

I had both bourbon and bacon grease sitting at home, just being awesome independently without any knowledge of each others’ presence. So I decided to introduce them and see what happened.

The verdict: inconclusive. On first taste, the bourbon really didn’t seem to pick up too much of the bacon flavor.

I’m wondering if that’s because I used Cedarbrook Farms bacon from the Dupont Market. They smoke their bacon but don’t cure it, so it doesn’t have any of the nitrates that commercial bacon does. It gives the bacon a much meatier (but less classically ‘bacon’) flavor, so it’s possible that the grease from it is less potent, as well.

The good news is that the bourbon is not ruined by any stretch of the imagination, so I may have to break down and pick up some store-bought bacon to give it another try.

I’ll keep you posted.