- Deadline to submit is April 5th at noon
- Must be an original recipe
- Must use actual bacon or bacon-fat as an ingredient. Bacon vodka, pork stock, etc are NOT applicable.
- Recipe must be measured in fluid ounces
- Recipe must have a name
- Recipes that have ingredients which are originally produced (i.e. smoked cherries, syrups, etc) must include recipes for those ingredients
- If possible, please submit a photo of your cocktail
For this year's entry I shifted from a base of blended Scotch whisky for the Barded Black Bird...to a pair of blended rums. The starting point, and focus for the bacon-inflicted fat wash, was Banks 7 Golden Age Rum. I really like this rum as the foundation...it offers a fantastic combination of over 20 rums aged anywhere from 1 to 7 years from the islands of Barbados, Guatemala, Guyana, Jamaica, Java, Panama and Trinidad, each lending their own unique characteristics. Following the Banks, in an attempt to pick up a bit more on the smoky element of bacon, I supplemented with a very nice aged demerara rum, El Dorado 15 year. This rum, on my palate at least, has a very complex backdrop of dark fruits (cherry, dates), smoke, and vanilla...and adds nicely to the existing Guyana-based demerara already present in the Banks 7 blend. Next up, a bacon-date shrub to provide some much needed acidity to the rich sweetness of the rums and eventual use of sherry. Freshly cooked, crispy bacon, diced mejouli dates, sugar, and apple cider vinegar comprised the main ingredients for the shrub, with a simple, final fat wash to provide another layer of bacon-y goodness. The sherry picked up on the dark fruit provided by the rums with notes of fig and caramel...and its sweetness, much akin to a Madeira, toned down some of the acid from the shrub as well. Fat-washed Angostura, as well as Bittercube Cherry Bark Vanilla bitters rounded out the cocktail, and a finish with an expression of lemon oils worked well to provide a fresh hit of bright citrus to a rather deep and complex drink. The name is a riff on the many Caribbean sailing routes taken to acquire the various rums in the cocktail, as well as all those represented by shipment of sherry casks across the Indian Ocean by the East India Company, the source of inspiration for the style of sherry in the cocktail.
If Pigs Could Sail
1 oz fat-washed Banks 7 Golden Age Rum*
3/4 oz El Dorado 15 Year Old Rum
3/4 oz bacon-date shrub**
1/2 oz Lustau East India Solera sherry
1 dash fat-washed Angostura bitters***
1 dash Bittercube Cherry Bark Vanilla bitters
Lemon zest
Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass with ice and stir until very well chilled. Strain into a pre-chilled Nick & Nora cocktail glass or coupe. Garnish with a short strip of lemon zest. Oink oink.
Fat-washed Banks 7*
8 oz Banks 7 Golden Age Rum
2 oz rendered bacon fat, melted
Combine both ingredients in a well sealed container and shake vigorously. Let sit at room temperature for 1-2 hours, then place in the freezer for several hours or overnight. Break thru the top layer of solidified fat and strain thru a fine sieve into a fresh glass bottle.
Bacon-date shrub**
3/4 c apple cider vinegar
1/2 c diced crispy cooked bacon
1/4 c diced mejouli dates
3/4 c turbinado sugar
1/4 c water
Combine all ingredients except for vinegar and water in a glass jar and muddle very well to integrate. Add water, stir to combine, and place in fridge for 2 days, stirring the slurry mixture daily. Add the vinegar, stir, and place back into the fridge for another 7-10 days, shaking well once daily. Strain the shrub thru a fine sieve into a well sealed container. Add the melted bacon fat and shake vigorously. Let sit at room temperature for 1-2 hours, then place in the freezer for roughly 1 hour or until the layer of fat has solidified (take care not to over-freeze as the shrub itself can still be frozen). Break thru the top layer and strain thru a fine sieve into a fresh glass bottle.
Fat-washed Angostura***
1 oz Angostura bitters
1/2 oz rendered bacon fat, melted
Combine both ingredients in a well sealed container and shake vigorously. Let sit at room temperature for 1-2 hours, then place in the freezer for several hours or overnight. Break thru the top layer of solidified fat and strain thru a fine sieve into a fresh glass dropper bottle.
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| If Pigs Could Sail |
Shrubs are certainly not for everyone...some cannot get past the tart, pungent acidity of vinegar, but I thought it actually paired pretty well to counter the stronger profiles of bacon fat-infused rum, demerara rum, and sherry. For sure, it is a rather complex drink with a lot going on, but I found it much lighter than I'd had anticipated...crisp, a bit sweet, and definitely a nice backdrop of subtle bacon. And with that, regardless of a win or loss, this was a very enjoyable and worthwhile venture...looking forward to see what everybody else has come up with to give liquid props to bacon.
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