Fat-washing a spirit is something that can sound a little intimidating and technical. In all honesty though, it's dead easy. Essentially, it's just the process of infusing a spirit with fat, and then removing that fat from the spirit, leaving the flavour behind. That fat can come in a variety of forms - butter, bacon, avocado oil or roast lamb - to name just a few. The possibilities are endless. PDT's Benton Old-Fashioned was the first cocktail to use the technique commercially. It's a combination of bacon, Bourbon and maple syrup.
To make your own fat-wash, you need the fat to be in liquid form. If you're using bacon fat for example, just cook the bacon in a neutral-flavoured oil and use what's left in the pan.
Add the liquid fat to your chosen spirit at a ratio of about 1:8 in favour of the spirit. Just make sure it's in something wide (a jar or Tuppaware work great. A bottle not so much).
Shake it like crazy and leave it in the freezer for about 24 hours. The fat will separate from the alcohol and solidify on the top. Either scrape off this layer, or pierce it and pour the spirit out. Run it through a coffee filter or cheese cloth.
It's honestly that easy, and is a great way to add unusual flavours to mix up your classics, or create something entirely new around whatever combination you choose.
We fat-washed some London Dry Gin with bacon to make our switch up our Bees Knees.
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