Friday, June 12, 2009

These are a few of our favorite things...

If it were not for bacon and alcohol, in our opinion, life would be a lot less worth living. The staff of BDJ Labs has on numerous occasions combined the two, whether they've been paired indirectly (a beer chugged while consuming a hearty bacon cheeseburger) or directly (a strip of bacon used as a swizzle stick for a Bacon Salt-rimmed bloody mary). Now a company has put the two in the same bottle with Bakon vodka. We heartily applaud the company for their bacony inspiration, and their gumption in selling it. However, we find the $30/bottle pricetag a bit stiff. As far as premium vodkas go, it's no Belvedere, but still--we're more of the Stoli/Smirnoff types (and budgets).

Rather than bemoan our lack of money, we took matters into our own hands, and refrigerators, by infusing our own booze with bacon. Going loosely after a recipe by world-famous mixologist Adam Seger of Nacional 27 (with a few tips/tricks taken from the A/V Club's Taste Test), we're in the middle of two different mad-bacon-scientist experiments:
1. Infusing vodka with bacon and apple (we're hoping for tasty baconappletinis)
2. Infusing bourbon with caramelized bacon (mmm, baconhattans)
It hasn't been pretty--the bacon isn't at its loveliest when floating around in liquid, and the fat globules swishing around are yuckworthy. Plus, it turns out the best way to strain that stuff out is to use pantyhose (see pic). However, the piece of apple we snuck out of the vodka gunk after a few days of infusing was delicious and slightly bacony, so we're hopeful.

Today, we're at the last step--freezing to get the last bit of grease to settle, so we can strain it out with another pair of hose--so on Sunday, we'll taste and report back to you. If our test proves successful, we'll share the method with you so you can copy at home. If it tanks, we'll adjust our steps and try again.

Wish us luck...

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