Cocktail Hacker

Do you like ice cream? Since you’re human, I’m going to bet yes. And, since you’re reading my blog I think it’s safe to also assume you like booze. So, friends, can you imagine the combination of the two? Neither could I. Mind you, I tried. But my brain basically rebooted from joy every time I tried. Salvation came in the form of Ice Cream Happy Hour, a new book from Valerie Lum and Jenise Addison.

The book is compilation of 50 recipes for ice creams, sorbets and sherbets. There are boozy twists on the classics, like the one we chose Mint Chip with Creme de Menthe. There are cocktail inspired recipes that definitely sound awesome. Whiskey Sour ice cream, yes please! And, to round it all out there are recipes for boozy sundaes, floats and the like.

The part I liked best about this book is that they break down the ice cream making process into distinct, simple steps. I hadn’t made ice cream before (despite having my own ice cream maker, go figure) and I found the recipe very easy to follow. You will need an ice cream maker, but they’re pretty easy to find and, if you don’t want to buy one, I’m betting you have a friend who would gladly loan you theirs. And, I can tell you, once you’ve had boozy ice cream, all others are just a little boring.

Mint Chip with Creme de Menthe

2 cups Milk

2 cups Heavy Cream

3/4 cup Sugar

4 Egg Yolks

2 tsp Mint Extract

3-4 drops Green Food Coloring

1 packet Gelatin

1/4 cup Cold Water

3/4 cup Cold Creme de Menthe

1 cup Chopped Chocolate

1) Scald the milk, cream and sugar

2) Whisk the egg yolks and temper with 1/3 of the milk mixture

3) Thicken the custard over low heat

4) Whisk in the mint extract and food coloring

5) Strain, cover and chill the custard for at least 8 hours

6) Dissolve the gelatin in the cold water

7) Melt the gelatin over low heat

8) Spike the custard with the cold creme de menthe

9) Churn the ice cream for at least 20 minutes

10) Fold in the chocolate 

† The product reviewed here was provided to me as a free sample. If you’re wondering what that means check out my sample policy.

Everyone who enjoys cocktails, or rather, drinking in general, has dabbled in infusing spirits. Most stick with straightforward combos: mango vodka, strawberry tequila, vanilla rum, etc. The next step in that process is fat washing. Specifically you’re adding a flavorful fat to a spirit and the alcohol and water soluble flavors in the fat are pulled into the spirit. Once you’ve infused you remove the fat and you’re left with flavorful spirits.

The first time I heard about this method was Don Lee’s Bacon Bourbon. Don used the infused bourbon to make PDT’s Bacon Old Fashioned. Seeing this I was inspired. I tried it myself and, I won’t say I failed, but I certainly didn’t succeed. What I ended up with was an under-flavored bourbon that tasted okay in an Old Fashioned, but really wasn’t any better than it would have been with unadulterated bourbon. And, what’s worse, I couldn’t find anything else to put it in. It met the drain shortly thereafter.

With that, my homemade attempts at fat washing ended and I put savory infusions on the back burner and never really looked back. So, when a bottle of Bakon Vodka (it’s bacon flavored, in case you hadn’t figured that out) turned up on my doorstep, my brain was immediately filled with concoctions of bacon delightfulness. Think of the amazing bacon pairings people have been coming up with lately…bacon chocolate chip cookies (made them, they’re amazing), chocolate covered bacon (had it, also amazing), candied bacon (had it, amazing)…okay, this is getting repetitive.

The common theme there though is the sugar component, and while I definitely wanted to try that avenue, you’ll have to come back later for those results. The first place I wanted to start was what seemed like the obvious use for this spirit, the Bakon Bloody Mary. But first, let’s talk about the vodka itself.

Bakon Vodka has a distinctly bacony aroma. It’s not the kind of bacon flavor you might get when you cook up your Sunday breakfast, though. It was singularly porky. No maple, very light smoke, very. But, none the less definitely bacon. And, while the flavor is good, it’s not something I’d ever drink on its own. I think it’s the idea of it all that gets to me. Okay, let’s see how it mixes.

Bakon Bloody Mary

2 oz Bakon Vodka

4 oz Tomato Juice

1/4 oz Lemon Juice

3 Dashes Worcestershire Sauce

1 Dash Hot Sauce

Pinch of Chipotle Powder

Heavy Pinch of Kosher Salt

2 Grinds of Black Pepper

Garnish with Veggies and Pickles

1) Combine ingredients in shaker with ice

2) Shake until well chilled

3) Strain into an ice filled Collins glass

4) Garnish with lemon and celery

I used my basic Bloody Mary recipe with one minor tweak. I wanted a hint of smokiness so I added a pinch of chipotle powder and cut down the hot sauce. The bacon comes through in the aroma quite clearly. In the flavor it’s much less intense, but still present. And, while it doesn’t added a super bacony punch, it adds a mellow, savory backbone to the cocktail that I really enjoy. As for the added chipotle it did its job perfectly. There was a light smokiness and just the right amount of spice. This is definitely a must try for the folks in your life who lie in the intersection of bacon lovers and Bloody Mary lovers.

As for Bakon Vodka itself, I’ll give you this advice. It’s tasty stuff, when properly applied. Definitely don’t get this expecting to be able to use it in any vodka recipe. The results will not be pleasant. Though, when mixed in the right recipe the added complexity and savory quality, even in sweet drinks, is worth it.

† The product reviewed here was provided to me as a free sample. If you’re wondering what that means check out my sample policy.

Ever sat down after a long day and craved a nice glass of honey? Neither had I, emphasis on the had. I sat down a couple nights back to write this review and ended up simply sipping the Bärenjäger and vegging. And you know what? I’d do it again. You see, until you’ve sipped Bärenjäger, you assume it’s simply going to be a sweet, honey flavored liqueur. Not so, well, not entirely so, at least. Bärenjäger is, most definitely a sweet, honey flavored liqueur. But it’s more than that. Tasting it makes me think it literally is honey with some alcohol added.

Seems rather one-dimensional just hearing about it. It goes deeper than that though, to use a lame pun. Honey has a natural complexity to it. The unique flavors from the flowers and the more complex sugar flavor. You see, honey is a mix of molecules of fructose and glucose giving it a different flavor than table sugar which is purely sucrose. For you sugar geeks out there, this is old news. For the rest of us, a quick primer. Sucrose is a disaccharide comprised of both glucose and fructose bonded as a single molecule of sucrose. Seems like a sugar is a sugar, but not quite. Here’s one of the interesting bits. Glucose is less sweet than sucrose on it’s own, but, fructose is far sweeter, nearly doubly so. So, where am I getting with all of this? Simply put, the sweetness of honey is different than the sweetness of table sugar and you definitely pick it up sipping on Bärenjäger.

The color is that of thinned honey. Funny, that. The mouth feel is pretty incredible. Barenjager is viscous, close to the texture of pancake syrup. The flavor highlights the honey with spice notes filling in the background. The sweetness masks the 70 proof punch exceedingly well. So, how does it mix? Wonderfully. Here is my take on the Bäron von Bourbon from the Bärenjäger site.

Bäron von Bourbon (Cocktail Hacker)

1 1/2 oz Bourbon

1 oz Bärenjäger

1 oz Lemon Juice

1 Dash Aromatic Bitters

1) Combine ingredients in a shaker with ice

2) Shake until well chilled

3) Strain into a chilled cocktail glass

Bourbon and honey are a classic pairing and the lemon adds a crisp sour note. I added a single dash of bitters to bump up the herbal complexity. You don’t want as much as you’d use in a typical whiskey sour as you want the Bärenjäger to be able to shine. If the drink is a too sweet for you as noted, try adding a bit more bourbon.

Check back later in the week for another tasty Bärenjäger recipe.

† The product reviewed here was provided to me as a free sample. If you’re wondering what that means check out my sample policy.

Tasting spiced rum there are certain things I look for. First, the base rum should be good. Flavored crappy rum is still crappy rum. Second, the flavors should taste natural. I don’t want the rum to taste like the producer added some bottled extracts and called it good. Third, and finally, the spice flavors should be distinct and not muddled. It’s easy to add a bunch of flavors and end up with a muddled mess. It’s considerably more difficult to combine distinct flavors while keeping them distinct yet harmonious.

BlackBeard Spiced Rum passes my rigorous testing protocol and comes out the other side with me smiling. The bottle notes the key spices are vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg. And, while the nutmeg and cinnamon play side roles, the vanilla is definitely the star. The vanilla flavor is smooth and fresh with no chemical notes. Just what I like.

This rum plays extremely well with Coke. Though, I do have a recommendation. Add less Coke than you normally would, I’d keep it about 3:1 Coke to rum, tops. That keeps the rum flavor from being over diluted. A twist of lime is good if you’d like to change things up. Good stuff. BlackBeard would also make for an interesting twist on the Mojito.

Overall, it’s a great spiced rum. Less complex than others, but that’s not really a bad thing. The spices it does include it does very well.

† The product reviewed here was provided to me as a free sample. If you’re wondering what that means check out my sample policy.

What first struck me as I looked at the review bottle of Reyka vodka I had been sent was the bottle itself and not how you’d think. The bottle design is unique with “Iceland” (it’s home country) embossed around the shoulder, but that’s not what caught my eye. What I really enjoy is the glass itself. In a time where things are becoming purer, cleaner, more sterile, the glass in the Reyka bottle has tiny bubbles. It reminds me of an earlier time when things were made by hand. Now, don’t think I need saving from my naive views. I have no doubt this design detail was fully intentional. Matters not to me, though, I like it.

Okay, moving on to what you’re really interested in, the spirit itself. The color, as you’d fully expect is crystal clear. The aroma is of clean alcohol only and the flavor is crisp and tremendously clean. There is no aftertaste and the finish is very short. This is a top shelf vodka to be sure. This is going to sound campy, so brace yourself. This vodka tastes like my mental image of Iceland. Crisp glacial water flowing over lava rock. Expanses of open country. A slower pace of life. Almost a return to times gone by. Campiness over, thanks for indulging me.

So, here’s the key point. I like this vodka. It’s crisp, clean and nearly flavor/odorless. Exactly what you’re looking for in a high quality vodka. To make things even better, it’s reasonably priced ~$30 depending where you go. And, to seal the deal, it just won the Vodka Trophy at the International Wine and Spirits Competition held in London.

Skál!

† The product reviewed here was provided to me as a free sample. If you’re wondering what that means check out my sample policy.