Once you’ve broken your cherry by making some bacon-infused vodka Bloody Marys, give this one a shot. After tasting a bacon Bloody Mary, I was inspired to create a BLT-type drink. After a lot of trial and error, here’s what I came up with.
Now, if you haven’t made bacon vodka yet, it’s time to man up already. It’s wicked easy – cook some bacon and add vodka.
Having done that, let’s make some BLT-inspired cocktails. For our first example, start by adding equal parts of the following:
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The cucumber flavor in the Hendricks is subtle when mixed with the bacon vodka and tomato juice. I added a splash of cucumber juice to enhance it (cucumber+blender+cheesecloth). It’s not necessary, but it’s definitely an improvement that’s worth the whopping $0.50 and two minutes of hard labor. My favorite aspect of it is that you taste it in stages – first the cucumber, then the tomato, and finally the bacon. It’s basically a “light” version of a Bloody Mary. This is also a deal-maker since it goes down smoother than water and is laden with alcohol. It’s like Rohypnol for the DIY-er!
Now, I love Bloody Mary’s, especially Bacon Bloody’s, even Virgin Bloody’s – but after having one, I’m ready to settle with a smoother cocktail. This next drink is something you can knock down with ease until you can’t legally drive, and it’s equally as tasty (and if you don’t want to shell out $35 for Hendricks as far as the gin is concerned, it’s a much cheaper alternative…).
In your blender, add:
It’s more of a smoothie than a cocktail, but delicious nonetheless. The texture of the cucumber actually enhances the flavor. To be honest, I prefer this version of the drink, but it requires too much preparation and cleanup for a guy without a wife. So if you have a wife, this drink might be for you! Cheers! |
I really want to try one of those BLT cocktails so I checked out your link to make the Bacon Vodka.
“Wicked easy”?? What if we don’t have spare centrifuges laying around?
yeah the centrifuge part is a bit much. but that was the first time I made it and I wanted to use some very expensive equipment (because I could) – if you just run it through cheese cloth a few times over it while the vodka is COLD it does a serviceable job as well.
I’m experimenting with a rapid method of doing this. It involves pouring all the grease and drippings from the pan into the vodka and letting it sit for 24 hours.
For my first batch of bacon vodka, I just poured the liquid over cooked bacon strips and let it ferment for 14 days. I then removed the bacon and passed the mixture through coffee filters(time-consuming, about 30 minutes).
With the cooking and filtering it’s only about an hour’s worth of work.
How about just using Bakon Vodka?
http://www.bakonvodka.com/
This will circumvent utilizing of centrifuges, autoclaves, Bunson burners, beekers, and other laboratory equipment..
for the record, I only used all of that high falutin’ scientific stuff the first time I made bacon vodka. every other time I have used cheesecloth/coffee filters – I guess we should probably post an updated method….
also Bakon Vodka isn’t available in MD and I ain’t ordering it online from NY and paying a bajillion dollars for it.
If only we could order from NY. If this state didn’t the most backward blue laws short of PA and CT, we could all be members of wine/beer of the month clubs and a host of other benefits, including paying $1 bajillion for the ease of not having to drop cheese cloths full of bacon grease into a vat of Hangar.
As an update;
If you decide to make this stuff yourself, don’t pour the pan drippings in with the bacon strips and vodka. I just tried this out and it’s a total mess. The amount of time it may save is not worth the cleanup. Let the excess grease drip off the cooked bacon strips and then toss them in with the vodka. If you plan on using it in a mixed drink, it’ll take about two weeks (or until Bourbon-colored) to achieve the flavor intensity you will need. If you plan on drinking it straight, a few days should be fine (light brown color).
Also, cheesecloth is fine for getting rid of the chunks of grease and bacon, but coffee filters are needed to get rid of the rest. Otherwise you will have a suspension instead of an infused liquid. This is time consuming, but in the end you’ll wind up with something as good or better than you could buy.
Hope this helps.